tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964127206050060132024-03-12T22:43:49.220-07:00New Economics of AdvertisingSimplify the technologies behind the new economics of buying and selling advertising.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-79291368599541405392012-08-27T09:03:00.001-07:002012-08-27T09:03:57.726-07:00Apple awarded $1 billion in Samsung patent infringement caseSAN JOSE - Apple Inc. won an overwhelming victory over rival Samsung Electronics Co. in a widely watched federal patent battle, a decision that some worry could stymie competition in the fast-moving markets for smartphones and computer tablets.<br /><br /><div class="esc-extension-wrapper" style="padding-top: 6px; padding-left: 1px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.46666717529297px; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="esc-secondary-article-wrapper"><div class="esc-secondary-article-title-wrapper" style="margin-top: 2px; line-height: 15px; "><a target="_blank" class="article usg-AFQjCNEIMldLOg2j1J9Bn0jETFPxBYzYjQ sig2-xLBCT_Nf-HB8F3WE2dWMcA did--8692368437721513745 esc-secondary-article-title-link" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-25/apple-s-1-billion-verdict-may-lead-to-samsung-sales-ban.html" url="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-25/apple-s-1-billion-verdict-may-lead-to-samsung-sales-ban.html" id="MAA4AEgAUAFgAmoCdXM" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 6px; "><span class="titletext">Apple's $1 Billion Verdict May Lead to Samsung Sales Ban</span></a><label class="esc-secondary-article-source" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); white-space: nowrap; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; ">Bloomberg</label></div></div><div class="esc-secondary-article-wrapper"><div class="esc-secondary-article-title-wrapper" style="margin-top: 2px; line-height: 15px; "><a target="_blank" class="article usg-AFQjCNEMYDDlG4iMfUnGKAI0JGo5iQVxcQ sig2-t2Y7IvwaJ3Lt-qlQorv89w did--859320990315378838 esc-secondary-article-title-link" href="http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/08/24/big-win-for-apple-patent-fight-against-rival-samsung/cVVtAPTCDsOBh9Am97RGRN/story.html" url="http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/08/24/big-win-for-apple-patent-fight-against-rival-samsung/cVVtAPTCDsOBh9Am97RGRN/story.html" id="MAA4AEgAUAJgAmoCdXM" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 6px; "><span class="titletext">Samsung ordered to pay Apple $1.05b in patent case</span></a><label class="esc-secondary-article-source" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); white-space: nowrap; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; ">Boston Globe</label></div></div><div class="esc-diversity-wrapper" style="margin-top: 10px; "><div class="esc-diversity-article-wrapper" style="margin-top: 2px; line-height: 15px; "><label class="esc-diversity-article-category" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 6px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">Opinion:</label><a target="_blank" class="article usg-AFQjCNF0nd7ojJTREY66jgrx_Xj3J03XXA sig2-d5tPi9rUgC9Wn6XJyMWK6w did--6429180718439975881 esc-diversity-article-link dcid-CATEGORY_OPED" href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/crawford-in-apple-v-samsung-patent-case-expect-nobody-to-truly-win-1.3924851" url="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/crawford-in-apple-v-samsung-patent-case-expect-nobody-to-truly-win-1.3924851" id="MAA4AEgAUAZgAmoCdXM" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: none; padding-right: 6px; "><span class="titletext">Crawford: In Apple v. Samsung patent case, expect nobody to truly win</span></a><label class="esc-diversity-article-source" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); white-space: nowrap; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; ">Newsday</label></div><div class="esc-diversity-article-wrapper" style="margin-top: 2px; line-height: 15px; "><label class="esc-diversity-article-category" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 6px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">Live Updating:</label><a target="_blank" class="article usg-AFQjCNHF9pA5ppCsetBjEzxcz6yBcvJgRw sig2-eGdS0l_65fIFNcOy9evGVw did--8527429853102883830 esc-diversity-article-link dcid-CATEGORY_LIVE" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/08/24/jury-has-reached-verdict-in-apple-samsung-patent-suit-court-to-announce-it-shortly/" url="http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/08/24/jury-has-reached-verdict-in-apple-samsung-patent-suit-court-to-announce-it-shortly/" id="MAA4AEgAUAVgAmoCdXM" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: none; padding-right: 6px; "><span class="titletext">Apple Wins Over Jury in Samsung Patent Dispute, Awarded $1.05 Billion in <b style="font-weight: normal; ">...</b></span></a></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-13296019973439903802012-08-26T11:47:00.000-07:002012-08-26T11:47:00.215-07:00Consumer Habit Change - Evolutionary or Revolutionary?<img align=right src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8164/7518499826_a4e46d7d1c_m.jpg">Mobile commerce is the latest technology trend. Will the user adoption be evolutionary or revolutionary?<br /><br /><b>Legacy Behavior Change</b><br /><br />Traditionally, change evolves through multiple phases. Customer learning time, small changes in user-interface, and account set-up times become barriers to adoption.<br /><br /><img align=right src="http://blog.compete.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gartner1.png" width=50% length=50%>More recently, customers have dropped mice in favor of touch screens; eliminated the need for floppy disks and hard drives; and integrated their cameras, music box, game players, and cell phone into one smartphone. Sea-change has occurred at an unbelievable pace.<br /><br />Which pattern applies for mobile commerce?<br /><br /><b>Phone In Takeout Orders</b><br /><br />Today, some customers make a phone call to request takeout orders. With foreign workers handling the phone line, ordering by voice can be difficult to get the exact order correct. Further, customers usually call when the restaurant is busy - thus, resulting in slower services.<br /><br />We believe many of these customers have switched to online ordering. For pizza, over 32% is already via online sources. It's a small habit change to switch from online to mobile ordering. These customers will lead the wave to mobile commerce adoption.<br /><br /><b>Wait, Wait, Wait</b><br /><br />Most customers like to wait in lines: wait to get the menu, wait to order, wait to pay, and wait to receive foods. <br /><br />The cool pattern is to find a seat, order/pay via an app, and relax with their meal and conversatin. Surprisingly, this has been a tough habit to overcome. <br /><br /><li>Some customers complain that this is jumping the line. Doesn't the phone-in order jump the line as well?<br /><br /><li>Some customers like the interaction with the owner. Ironically, if the owner takes fewer orders, won't they have more time to socialize with their customers?<br /><br /><li>Most customers simply admit that it's cool, but they forgot.<br /><br />Mobile commerce improves the restaurant ambiance - as cashiers and waitresses become less hasseled, and more service friendly.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br /><br />MoAppo is early in the adoption curve. We believe that we need to be prepared for rapid adoption. Only time will tell.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-44938822706348426972012-08-22T11:46:00.000-07:002012-08-22T11:46:00.710-07:00Cupertino Restaurants - The leading mobile network for Suburban cities <img align="right" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7776555512_bbb5173d42_m.jpg" />TEARN media released the Cupertino Restaurant app for ordering from smartphones; with 15% of the restaurants participating. For web access, visit <a href="http://cupertino.moAPPo.com">http://cupertino.moAPPo.com</a>.<br /><br /><b>About Cupertino</b><br /><br />Cupertino is a city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. <br /><br />Why Cupertino as the first city for mobile commerce?<br /><br />Forbes ranked it as one of the most educated, wealthy small towns. It is best known as home to the worldwide headquarters of <a href="http://apple.com">Apple Inc</a>, as well as the laboratory for <a href="http://amazon.com">Amazon's Kindle Fire</a> development team of thousands. Other Fortune 1,000 companies include Seagate, Agilent, and Symantec - while hundreds of high-tech start-ups work from their Cupertino homes.<br /><br /><b>Restaurants in Cupertino</b><br /><br /><div class=phew title="out=gif89;r=2;rss=http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photoset.gne?set=72157629140426646&nsid=61905144@N00"></div>About 200 restaurants serve the various ethnic groups who live and work in Cupertino. 15% of these Casual Dining (CDR), Quick Serve (QSR), and Fine Dining (FDR) restaurants have signed on to provide smartphone access to their menus and/or payment for their orders. This list includes BBQ from Hawaii, Greece, Armenia, Mexico, and India; Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian, Californian, Mexican, and American venues; and unusual snacks like Beard Papa or Verde Pearl Tea.<br /><br /><b>Mobile Ordering from MoAPPo</b><br /><br />Mo<span style="color:red">APP</span>o integrates four digital businesses with mobile apps, Wi-Fi hotspots, payment, and online ordering experiences. One of the companies dominates the Wi-Fi hotspots in Silicon Valley while another has already gained 8 million downloads.<br /><br />The <a href="http://cupertino.moAPPo.com">Cupertino Restaurants App</a> allows users to sign-up once, save their payment data, and save time at any of their favorite restaurants.<br /><br />The innovative app supports various iPhone/iPad/iPod configurations; multiple versions of Android phones; multiple Kindles from Amazon; Palm, Blackberry, and Window Mobile; and many featured phones from Nokia, Pantech, and LG. No other company provides the same level of device support for menu display.<br /><br /><b>Feedback Welcome</b><br /><br />Try the app. Provide feedback. Watch us grow to service all Bay Area restaurants.<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-90764487130067294082012-08-20T11:45:00.001-07:002012-08-20T11:45:33.383-07:00MoAppo Platform for Mobile Commerce<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;src=google;query=big wave;"></div>The next big wave for technology is mobile commerce. What are the platform challenges to service this pioneering market?<br /><br />Designing the <a href="http://moappo.com/">Mo<span style="color:red;">App</span>o system</a> for storing a catalog of products or food items; and allowing users to order and pay for items has been a trivial problem. Designing the true killer platform requires resolving a multitude of moving parts.<br /><br />Let's get started.<br /><br /><b>Engaging Animated Menu</b><br /><br /><div class="phew" title="out=gif89;src=google;query=hamburgers;"></div>Most menus have, at most, a single, lo-res, small picture for each food item. As a result, the menus are boring, uninteresting, and fail to engage users. In addition, most photographers will tell us that shots of food are boring, at best.<br /><br />Using the unique, tested methods from our Keys by TEARN edutainment platform (ie over 8 million downloads), we crowd-source relevant, hi-res slide-shows for every product and item in a menu. This creates an engaging presentation that allows new customers to discover interesting, new dishes. The slide show easily replaces thousands of words - and get the salivary glands working.<br /><br />This single feature already makes MoAppo the technical leader in mobile commerce.<br /><br /><b>Cross Platform Services Using HTML5</b><br /><br />Most competitors choose between the WAP platform - which works on any featured phone, but without images; and native support for single platforms - like the iPhone. Neither approach has gained much success.<br /><br />Using our unique, cross-platform methods for animating the menu (<i>ie the cool, sideways elevator bounce</i>) that supports iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Windows, advanced feature phones, and online use - extends our technical leadership far beyond any existing competitor.<br /><br />Is this the right mix of cool versus functional support? Time will tell.<br /><br /><b>Secured Payment and Enterprise Reporting</b><br /><br />A payment platform requires security against users, devices, man-in-the-middle, and server attacks. Such platforms often are burdened so badly that a single server can only handle a few hundred transactions per second.<br /><br />We have chosen to use the NoSQL and NodeJS platforms that dominate the modern social media and mobile gaming technologies. With a multitude of innovations, we have produced a secured system that has unique <i>self-healing</i>, <i>live-reporting</i>, <i>redundant paths</i> to the end-points at retail locations; while having a robust structure that can handle hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. No other company matches the maturity of our platform.<br /><br />Note that this is a 10,000x improvement over legacy systems.<br /><br /><b>What's Next</b><br /><br />The system has been tested with a dozen merchants, without a single fail, over the past two months. <br /><br />In summary, the <a href="http://moappo.com/">Mo<span style="color:red;">App</span>o Platform</a> has required half a dozen, patent-pending methods that supply the services for mobile commerce. Stay tuned to follow our progress with this latest venture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-83021524465440588792010-08-18T16:39:00.000-07:002010-08-18T16:39:25.291-07:00State of the Web Economy 2010Chris Anderson <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/">at Wired Magazine</a> led another lively discussion about the future of the web. On TV, Meg Whitman says she created 15,000 jobs at eBay, enabled lots of entrepreneurs, and now wants to become the Governor of California. Thousands of blogs write daily about the future of the web.<div><br /></div><div>What is the factual state of the web economy?<br /><div><br /></div><div>We collected first-hand research to estimate the state of the web economy. While some may blog about the bad economy and the new web - our data concludes that it's already alive; supporting some 600,000 entrepreneurs; and growing despite the recession.<div><br /><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0ZQK7Sm_NfNpgvHgjguQ_ZMj9WJjuXgyttLedaHGmYWs3-7Lrez8DVUAxVxtAgSJi2MESw6heyZyAKqe-bQKwE8G74dGmQj8CfxcPR8w6HHs_G4Mi1ZJevwEFsAI7XKxstpEJLy0Rp2r/s1600/web_economy_(%24m)+(1).png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0ZQK7Sm_NfNpgvHgjguQ_ZMj9WJjuXgyttLedaHGmYWs3-7Lrez8DVUAxVxtAgSJi2MESw6heyZyAKqe-bQKwE8G74dGmQj8CfxcPR8w6HHs_G4Mi1ZJevwEFsAI7XKxstpEJLy0Rp2r/s320/web_economy_(%24m)+(1).png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506896988775943474" /></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Long Tail of Entrepreneurs</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The 80-20 rule states that 80% of the rewards are earned by the top 20%. Lemming analysts would even argue for 90-10 or 99-1. I've personally wondered whether any of these analysts truly know the economic power of the 80%, 90%, or 99% in the long tail that thrives on today's web.</div><div><br /></div><div>Who are these entrepreneurs?</div><div><ul><li>Most are statistically labeled as unemployed or moonlighting.</li><li>Huge numbers have blogs (millions), apps (hundreds of thousands), websites, and social pages (tens of millions.)</li><li>Many have storefronts at eBay, Yahoo, Amazon, Apple... </li><li>In short, entrepreneurs explore any and all sources to dig for revenues.</li><li>Most offer consulting to support their web explorations.</li></ul><div><b>Sourcing the Data</b></div><div><br /></div><div>With no public reporting sources, we chose to mine the financial reports of public companies to estimate the size of this web economy. I ferreted out the advertising, app, and commerce revenues that represent the gross margins paid to the long tail. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's what's included:</div></div></div></div><div><ul><li>100% of the payments from Google to the long tail of AdSense affiliates - while excluding distribution fees that are paid to the larger affiliates like AOL and Myspace. Google does not itemize Checkout transactions or the Android Marketplace payments in their SEC reports, which would represent additional payments collected on behalf of the long tail.</li><li>An estimated 50% of the affiliate revenues from Yahoo that are paid to partners - large and small. Yahoo does not report payments from Yahoo retail. </li><li>70% of the Music (ie itunes) and Software (ie appstore) revenues reported by Apple. Although this includes revenues for Apple's own products and software; and thus, overstates what is paid to the long tail - this estimate does partially compensate the many independent appstores that don't publicly report their payments.</li><li>eBay reports GMV (gross merchandise value) and Paypal transaction volume. These numbers tend to overlap when Paypal is used to clear the GMV purchases at eBay. Since most of the GMV and Paypal transctions involve high cost of goods, we chose a rough 10% for each revenue stream to estimate the value-added by the entrepreneur; thus estimating an average 20% gross margins for goods sold on eBay using Paypal.</li><li>Amazon increasingly depends on third-party products where Amazon earns referral, listing, and shipping fees. Amazon charges higher referral fees for media products and lower fees for tangible products. We've estimated the gross margins earned by the long tail through Amazon for each of these product groups.</li><li>Microsoft pays substantial Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC); and royalties to game publishers, but does not itemize these payments in SEC reports; and has reorganized so often that its impossible to estimate the payments. Since most of the payments reward larger companies like Yahoo and EA, it does not benefit the long tail. Thus, the omission of this data in the chart above does not significantly bias the results of this research.</li></ul><div>What's missing from the earnings of the web economy includes:</div></div><div><ul><li>Consulting earned by prominent bloggers, app developers, SEO consultants, and social entrepreneurs.</li><li>Payments by the hundreds of advertising networks that are still private - including those that pay Zygna and other game developers. This also should include revenues received by Federated Media that is paid to their blog network; and Techcrunch's revenues from their events, advertising, and other creative sources, but there is no way to estimate these sources.</li><li>Online games that don't use Paypal for monetization.</li><li>Earnings from other app networks, that is partially covered with our over estimation of Apple payments.</li><li>Craig's list transactions.</li></ul><div>Am I missing significant other sources? Can you think of other factors to fully estimate the value of the web economy?</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Surprising Conclusions</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Here are my conclusions:</div><div><ul><li>Earnings easily exceed $10 billion a quarter. Since this estimate represents gross margins available to pay salaries and rent, the web economy is roughly three times the size of Google. </li><li>Revenues are seasonal, reflecting the sources that includes eBay, Amazon, and Apple.</li><li>This earning stream can sustain over 600,000 paid jobs; probably from multiple millions of participants where hundreds of thousands have already gained self sustaining status. </li><li>We guess that most of this stream is paid to North American entrepreneurs. Asian and European entrepreneurs have their own store fronts that are not included in this study.</li><li>About half of this stream is exported outside of North America; with the payments repatriated to North American entrepreneurs.</li><li>In two years, Apple has become a significant payer to the long tail; and could pass eBay, Amazon, and Google in 2011.</li></ul><div>Is the issue really about choosing among advertising revenues, commerce, or content subscriptions? Savvy entrepreneurs know to chase a little from all the above.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why is Obama struggling with creating jobs? Perhaps Meg Whitman really knows the answer. It does not matter whether our leaders are Democrats or Republicans. What matters is that they need to be aware of and understand the growth engine that is already part of this slow economy.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Maintaining the Web Economy Index</b></div><div><br /></div><div>These six companies (and dozens of new enterprises like Facebook, Motorola, HP, Cisco, ...) who seek to build app stores, must take their vision of supporting the long tail seriously. After all, entrepreneurs depend on them to make a viable living. </div><div><br /></div><div>Conversely, the long tail needs to speak with stronger voices when web leaders make choices that adversely influences the long tail.</div><div><br /></div><div>Do you agree?</div><div><br /></div><div>To keep up with this quarterly report, subscribe below. </div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-39646632932089099212010-06-07T11:56:00.002-07:002012-08-20T11:50:01.323-07:00iPhone4 and iOS4 Updates from the WWDC<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=google;query=iphone4;"></div>It's official. Apple has been <a href="http://adecon101.blogspot.com/2010/04/apple-on-roll.html">on a roll</a> and the momentum continues as they move to become the <a href="http://adecon101.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-simple-iphone-rules.html">highest market cap company</a> in the world.<br /><br />Here are the latest announcements during the Worldwide Developer Conference in Cupertino, CA.<br /><br /><b>Four, New Billion-Dollar Businesses</b><br /><br />We previously described four new billion-dollar businesses for Apple. 90 days later, how is each business doing?<br /><ul><li>iPad has shipped over 2 million in less than 90 days. Since most are sold through Apple stores, this is a billion per quarter business with minimal, marginal overhead where most of the revenue gains contribute directly to Apple's bottom line.</li><li>The AppStore has become a self-sustaining Billion dollar business, separate from the iTunes store that is a separate multi-billion business selling music. The new iBooks store has already seen millions of downloads, capturing 22% of the ebook sales from the top 5 book publishers in the world.<br /></li><li>The iAds store is to set debut on July 1; and $60 million in business has been booked.</li><li>There was no announcement about the social network for subscription-based gaming revenues - which is still in beta test.</li></ul>Apple has already passed Microsoft to become the second highest market cap company. What's required for Apple to pass Exxon/Mobile?<br /><br /><b>The iPhone4, iOS4</b><br /><br />The theme of the latest iPhone is video.<br /><ul><li>5 megapixel camera that also captures video.</li><li>960x640 retina display for the highest resolution that can be seen by the naked eye</li><li>iMovie as an app for capturing, editing realtime movies on the iPhone. This app is likely to gain multi-millions in revenues.<br /></li><li>Facetime as a free, open-source app for free, iOS4 to iOS4 video conferencing. The open-source aspect opens the door for development of more innovative apps based on video conferencing.</li><li>A gyroscope also adds an innovative catalyst for more cool games.</li></ul>Does this add revenue growth for Apple?<br /><ul><li>As pointed out by Mr. Jobs, Google has attempted to confuse with overstated claims of Android market share. The iPhone will continue to gain share, unit shipments, and overwhelm in terms of hours of use - when compared to any other mobile platform. Our first-hand data collected from our <a href="http://blog.tearn.com/">mobile apps</a> confirm the same.<br /></li><li>The new iPhone adds heat to Apple's clear leadership of this category.</li><li>This move also targets Adobe as Apple seeks to take back leadership among the creative communities at ad agencies, advanced blogs, and Hollywood wannabees.</li><li>BTW, the developer community is already a billion dollar business for Apple as membership fees; Macintosh, iPod, iPad purchases; and WWDC conference fees contribute multiple billions to Apple. Google, Palm, Microsoft, and Nokia with different business models have not had the same measurable success.<br /></li></ul><b>Exxon on the Radar Screen</b><br /><br />Exxon still leads by $47 billion in market cap, down from $63 billion difference when we first wrote about this subject. Exxon's quarterly earnings is $5 billion, but flat.<br /><br />Apple reported $3 billion, but during a quarter when traditionally Apple reports seasonally lower figures. When the new businesses report another billion in quarterly earnings, and an expected trajectory that is clearly better than Exxon's outlook, Wall Street will value Apple higher than Exxon.<br /><br />Is this outcome likely?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-72078915376245955652010-05-22T10:14:00.000-07:002010-05-22T10:43:25.320-07:00It's Simple - iPhone Rules<center><br /><img src="http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4ade5e0f0000000000d0377c-590-450/mobile-internet-usage-goes-bonkers-with-iphone.jpg" /><br /></center><br />Whether an Apple fan or doubter, ask this question:<br /><blockquote>Is Apple still a niche community?</blockquote><ul><li>70% of MP3 players, globally - dominating digital distributor of music and saving the industry from piracy-death.<br /></li><li>Ignore Admob data that understates, because the plurality of apps serve no ads.</li><li>Adding iTunes as a browser, Safari on iPhone to the Safari browser share - has Safari already become the leading browser over Explorer? My analysis suggests yes.<br /></li><li>iPhone dominates mobile access of the web. Will unit share follow as mobile contracts expire?<br /></li><li>Adding Verizon as a distributor of iPhones doubles customer reach for Apple in the USA.</li><li>China has banned Android - strangling global OEM acceptance of Android. Who will emerge as the leader of the largest mobile market?<br /></li><li>iPad has already swamped the Amazon Kindle on the first weekend; and impacted the entire netbook segment after one month. Will Window-based laptops follow the downward trend?</li><li>iPad is moving toward saving the publishing industry from piracy-death - starting with books.<br /></li></ul>Apple is trending to become the highest market-cap company in the world - before the end of this year. Based on projected earnings, growth prospects, and reduced risk when compared to Exxon Mobile, the current leader - is this valuation justified?<br /><br />Talk is cheap. Google and others talk big, but fails with hundreds of initiatives.<br /><br />Apple executes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-43710396982422421702010-05-05T13:17:00.000-07:002010-05-05T13:29:59.439-07:00Browser Wars - Wrong DataHere is the typical miss-statement of the browser-war status.<br /><blockquote><h4 class="title">IE8, Chrome have most momentum in browser wars</h4> <div class="story-image CenteredImage" style="width: 640px;"> <img src="http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2010/02/browser_share_0110-thumb-640xauto-11811.png" alt="IE8, Chrome have most momentum in browser wars" width="640" /> </div> <!--body--><div class="news-item-figure-caption"> <div class="news-item-figure-caption-text">Data source: Net Applications </div> </div><br />Chrome is on a roll. It's the fastest-growing browser in terms of market share we've seen in a long time. And its rapid growth corresponds with Internet Explorer's steady decline. Keeping that in mind though, data from last month shows that IE8 has managed to grab 25 percent of the browser market, beating all versions of Firefox to the punch. In January 2010, only Chrome and Safari showed positive growth. <!--page 1--><p> Between <a href="http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2010/01/chrome-grabs-market-share-from-ie-and-firefox-passes-safari.ars">December</a> and January, Internet Explorer dropped a significant 0.51 percentage points (from 62.69 percent to 62.18 percent) and Firefox slipped 0.20 percentage points (from 24.61 percent to 24.41 percent). Chrome jumped a sizeable 0.57 percentage points (from 4.63 percent to 5.20 percent) while Safari moved up 0.05 percentage points (from 4.46 percent to 4.51 percent). Opera, on the other hand, dipped 0.02 percentage points (from 2.40 percent to 2.38 percent), though we're still hoping <a href="http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/12/opera-will-get-back-on-track-with-105.ars">version 10.5</a> will turn things around for the little guy. </p></blockquote><p>Why is this picture wrong?</p><ul><li>iTunes is a browser, used by 70% of the MP3 device owners. The browser stats don't track iTunes use.</li><li>Mobile devices already account for over 30% of web use. The iPhone is the top device, but it does not allow background tasks and third-party tools to track the use.</li><li>Top means to access social networks is via mobile apps.<br /></li><li>Google Analytics fails to track data for Palm or iPhone app access.</li></ul>If this data were trackable, has Explorer already lost the lead as the top browser to Safari? Is Chrome even a credible trend that would justify this headline?<br /><br />The right headline, if anyone can see the entire web, is probably:<br /><h2><blockquote>Safari Leads Among Browsers</blockquote></h2><br />FYI.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-69690864203997718712010-05-05T12:02:00.000-07:002010-05-05T12:03:05.410-07:00Verizon Rep: It's just like an iPhone ;-)<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=google;query=Verizon"></div>While visiting a Verizon store, I overheard a customer conversation.<br /><blockquote><i>Do you have the iPhone?</i><br /></blockquote>Is Verizon listening to their customers?<br /><br /><b>Verizon's Challenge</b><br /><br />Verizon is the largest wireless network in the United States. (FYI - very small when compared to China Mobile and China Unicom as an aside.) Despite the massive advertising pissing-battle on TV, their 3G network is marginally faster than AT&T's network, equal when using the Wi-Fi option, and behind when shared with telephony services.<br /><br />Verizon rejected Apple and enterprise politics block adding the iPhone to their product mix. AT&T has already announced that they will add Android phones, opening the door for Apple to choose more wireless partners in the USA.<br /><br />Verizon offers Blackberry for business users, Palm Pre/Pixi for female customers, and the Android Droid series for tech-savvy customers. Thus, they concluded that they don't need the iPhone.<br /><br />Wrong.<br /><br /><b>Troubles on the Android Platform</b><br /><br />Verizon has pushed millions of Android phones to customers - made by Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. (ed: still a small fraction of iPhone, iPad, iPod shipments) Unfortunately, of the six phones tested:<br /><ul><li>2 failed to boot</li><li>1 crunched its content to less than 320px resolution</li><li>1 unit's touch typing failed to recognize any letter correctly</li><li>1 worked great, but had a few small quirks</li><li>1 worked perfectly</li><li>All had Android 1.5 or better<br /></li></ul>As an app developer, I've pointed out the <a href="http://blog.tearn.com/2010/02/developing-for-google-android.html">weakness of the Android strategy</a>. Who is to blame for this inconsistent user experience? Google, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Verizon, Taiwan, or the developer? Let the fingerpointing start.<br /><br />Although the press has accused Apple of taking tough stances with wireless partners, developers, and Taiwan manufacturers, it's clear that Apple takes the user experience seriously and takes ownership of the issue.<br /><br />On the Android platform, who takes ownership?<br /><br /><b>What the Verizon Customer Wants</b><br /><br />Let's get back to the customer.<br /><ul><li>She wants to stay with Verizon</li><li>Her kids have asked for the iPhone</li><li>She is told that the Droid is just like an iPhone. Is it? Which one?<br /></li><li>She asked about iTunes</li><li>She is told that Verizon already has iTunes -- using MP3</li><li>She asked when Verizon will offer the iPhone</li><li>The rep lied, soon ;-)</li></ul>Should Verizon make their reps look like a bunch of out-right fibbers? Politics aside, isn't it time for Verizon to listen to their customers?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-10265295059317068902010-04-08T17:25:00.000-07:002010-04-08T18:14:49.499-07:00Apple on a Roll<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=iPod;"></div>Can any company match Apple? It's time for an update.<br /><br /><b>Billion Dollar Units</b><br /><br />Cisco coined the strategy to organically grow new, billion-dollar businesses. Over the last few years, they have failed to execute the strategy.<br /><br />Enter Apple. Count the business successes.<br /><ul><li>Macintosh PC's, particularly laptops.</li><li>Apple stores.<br /></li><li>iPod music players</li><li>70% share of digital music distribution</li><li>iPhone</li><li>Top share of purchased games</li><li>Annuity from wireless subscription plans</li></ul><div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=google;query=iPad;"></div><br /><b>Recent Announcements</b><br /><br />In 30 days, Apple has introduced the iPad and iPhone OS4 - entering multiple new businesses. I count four new, multi-billion enterprises.<br /><ul><li>The iPad overwhelms all eReaders on the opening bell, and may overtake the entire netbook segment.</li><li>Digital book distribution looks to become an easy, new, billion-dollar market for Apple - displacing long term players like Amazon, Sony, and Barnes & Noble.</li><li>Advertising has been boring for many years. iAds target billions of high-end ads delivered over the Apple franchise - and brings fresh excitement to the market.<br /></li><li>Social gaming portal to gain a share of subscription based gaming.</li></ul>Other segments where Apple is making progress include:<br /><ul><li>Magazine subscriptions</li><li>TV show and movie distribution</li><li>Difficult markets like enterprises<br /></li></ul><div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=google;query=Steve Jobs;"></div>Is Apple becoming the distribution giant for all things digital? Apple has legs.<br /><br /><b>It's not just Steve Jobs, It's a Culture</b><br /><br />What is truly amazing about Apple is its unique culture. Clearly, Mr. Jobs has been the incredible leader, but for a company to execute on so many fronts simultaneously - many leaders need to have the same clear vision to market leadership. This requires a huge team of members with a clear, common plan for success.<br /><br />It is not a one-man show.<br /><br />A success culture is not that easy to build. By comparison, Google has been an amazing technology company - with unique hiring plans, 20% innovation time, Marrisa Meyer, and other innovative cultural traits. However, despite thousands of projects, the company has failed to produce a second billion-dollar source of income.<br /><br />Further, Google has chosen to cut-off-their toes by ending relations with the huge mobile and search markets in China.<br /><br />Apple is executing.<br /><br />Despite its newbie status in many new categories, few would argue that they have gained four new billion-dollar businesses.<br /><br /><b>Top Market Cap</b><br /><br />MG Siegler, at Techcrunch, observed that <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/29/apple-microsoft-stock-2/">Apple may be passing Microsoft</a> on market cap, soon. Note that Apple has already left Google in the dust.<br /><br />Could Apple become the market cap leader in the world?<br /><br />You be the judge.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-18963798139914096892009-08-31T09:48:00.000-07:002009-08-31T09:50:13.999-07:00IBM patents TV remote that blogs, tweets<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=IBM;"></div>
<br />Triangle Business Journal
<br /><p>Want to let <a class="story_clink" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/gen/Twitter_F65980EE6B3C48A78C70543C35A6C749.html"><strong>Twitter</strong></a>ville or the blogosphere know automatically what you are watching on TV?</p> <p>Researchers at <a class="story_clink" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/gen/IBM_Corp._534B9CEF4BEC4FC08C9A8115B9EFEACD.html"><strong>IBM Corp.</strong></a> (NYSE: IBM) may have the answer for you.</p> <p>IBM, which employs about 10,500 in the Raleigh-Durham area, has applied for a patent on a network-enabled smart remote control that sends out a message to Twitter, <a class="story_clink" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/gen/Facebook_C0CA661410104A22AA681978C1BEFC65.html"><strong>Facebook</strong></a> or a blog when you start watching a TV show.</p> <p>Users can choose from a list of installed text messages or they can type in something themselves. They can also embed a snapshot from the show.</p> <p>The remote would also show messages between Facebook friends, bloggers and Twitterers.</p> <p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=5&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=Facebook&OS=Facebook&RS=Facebook">The patent can be found through this link.</a></p> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-73980706431710561172009-08-17T22:00:00.000-07:002009-08-17T22:45:48.135-07:00It’s Broadway Gone Viral, With a Musical Meted Out via Twitter (@nytimes)<div class="image" id="wideImage" style="padding-bottom: 1px; margin-top: 12px; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/17/business/Normal_600.jpg" width="600" height="356" alt="" border="0" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; display: block; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; " /><div class="credit" style="width: 600px; text-align: right; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; color: rgb(144, 144, 144); margin-bottom: 3px; ">Sara Krulwich/The New York Times</div><p class="caption" style="font-size: 11px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); line-height: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Aaron Tveit, left, Alice Ripley and J. Robert Spencer in “Next to Normal,” the Tony-winning musical that was reimagined for Twitter and found an ardent fan base.</p></div><div id="toolsRight"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 14px; text-transform: uppercase;font-size:10px;"><br /></span></span></div><nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "><div class="byline" style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; ">By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN</div></nyt_byline><div class="timestamp" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); font-size: 11px; ">Published: August 16, 2009</div><div id="articleBody" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em; "><nyt_text><p>At a recent performance of “Next to Normal,” the Broadway musical at the Booth Theater on West 45th Street, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/alice_ripley/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Alice Ripley." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Alice Ripley</a>, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Diana, a suburban mother with bipolar disorder, was reaching to answer a cordless telephone when she knocked it off the stage. Fourth wall broken, Ms. Ripley asked, with a smile, “Could you hand that to me?”</p><div id="articleInline" class="inlineLeft" style="display: block; margin-top: 4px; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; float: left; "><div id="inlineBox" style="width: 190px; "><div class="image" style="padding-bottom: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; "><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/17/business/normal2_190.jpg" width="190" height="285" alt="" border="0" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; " /><div class="credit" style="text-align: right; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; line-height: 11px; color: rgb(144, 144, 144); margin-bottom: 3px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></div><p class="caption" style="font-size: 11px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; ">The writer of “Next to Normal” saw the Twitter interpretation as a creative challenge as action was translated into tweets.</p></div></div></div><a name="secondParagraph" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; "></a><p>Audience members were suddenly on all fours, but when they could not find the prop, a woman in the front row held up her cellphone, which Ms. Ripley accepted and spoke her lines into before tossing it back, to laughter and applause.</p><p>It is, it turns out, strangely fitting that a theatergoer’s cellphone should play a role in a “Next to Normal” performance, since many people have been introduced to the musical by the devices. In early May, six weeks after opening, the production began what is by all accounts a Broadway first: over <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Twitter." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Twitter</a>, the social networking site, an adapted <a href="http://tr.im/uOXA" title="An archive of the tweets." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">version of the show</a> began to be published in the form of short <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/text_messaging/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about text messaging." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">text messages</a>, or tweets — just a line from a character at a time. Several times daily over 35 days, followers of <a href="http://twitter.com/N2Nbroadway" title="Next to Normal’s Twitter page." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">N2NBroadway</a> eagerly awaited the arrival of the tweets on their cellphones and computers.</p><p>On May 12, about a week into the serialized Twitter performance, “Next to Normal” had 30,000 followers; when it ended on June 7 with the last line of text and audio from the final song, “Light,” about 145,000 had signed up. Then, as the cast began text messaging back and forth with followers, their numbers continued to grow, recently topping 550,000.</p><p>According to the tracking site Twitterholic, N2NBroadway is ranked 210th, attracting more followers than celebrities like <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/paris_hilton/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Paris Hilton." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Paris Hilton</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/stephen_colbert/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Stephen Colbert." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Stephen Colbert</a> and brands like<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/starbucks_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Starbucks Corp" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Starbucks</a>.</p><p>Damian Bazadona, president of Situation Interactive, an online marketing and advertising firm that conceived of the Twitter performance, said that text messages have avoided marketing the play explicitly by, say, offering ticket discounts.</p><p>“You wouldn’t go to a social event and start selling someone something,” said Mr. Bazadona. “The content itself was doing the selling for us, so we didn’t need to bang someone over the head and say, ‘Here’s how to buy tickets.’ That would have smelled so advertising.”</p><p>Brian Yorkey, who wrote the book and lyrics and — with the composer Tom Kitt — won a<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/theater/theaterspecial/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the Tony Awards." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Tony Award</a> for the score, said that when first approached about adapting his play for thumb-typers, it sounded like “a bit of a chore.”</p><p>Mr. Yorkey grew to view it as a creative challenge, though, since the adaptation entails characters sending Twitter messages during moments they deliver no lines. During the first scene, for instance, when Diana makes sandwiches on the floor, her husband, Dan (played by J. Robert Spencer), humors his manic wife onstage, but in the virtual version tweets, “Do all wives end up sprawled on the floor making sandwiches for no one?”</p><p>In the performance, Mr. Yorkey said, “we didn’t know what Dan the father was thinking when she was on the floor making sandwiches. But this is what they would say if they were tweeting, so it’s telling the story of the show but telling it from a lot of different perspectives. It was the show — but a new multiangle way of thinking of it.”</p><p>Adam Chanler-Berat, who plays the character of Henry, knew nothing of the Twitter version until an encounter with a fan after a spring performance.</p><p>“Someone at the stage door asked me if I was Twittering while I was on stage,” said Mr. Chanler-Berat. “I guess they got a Twitter message from my character while I was actually performing.”</p><p>While marketers resisted selling the show on Twitter, followers bought tickets on their own steam.</p><p>“I saw the show because of the tweets,” Janet Aguhob wrote in a message to the Twitter group. “I read/heard great things abt N2N but was nervous abt the subject. Tweets broke the ice.”</p><p>Ms. Aguhob, who lives in Astoria, New York, and works for a pharmaceutical company, said in a phone interview that she had known people in “similar situations” to that of Ms. Ripley’s character and was “afraid it would bring back memories.” But less than halfway through the Twitter performance, Ms. Aguhob bought tickets.</p><p>“It was like Twitter was the appetizer and then I got the main course, and it was great,” Ms. Aguhob said. “I’m going again when a friend comes to visit in November. On Twitter they’re really nurturing the show — they’re not doing it in a gimmicky way at all.”</p><p>The Twitter adaptation ended June 7, the morning of the Tony ceremony, with the hope that followers would tune in to <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/cbs_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about CBS Corp" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">CBS</a> that evening to see the cast perform. The <a href="http://tr.im/uOXA" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">entire Twitter transcript</a> is available at <a href="http://www.nexttonormal.com/twitterperformance.pdf" target="_" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">www.nexttonormal.com/twitterperformance.pdf</a>.</p><p>The show, which sold $226,000 in tickets and filled 72 percent of its seats in the week before the Twitter production began, made $363,000 and reached 99 percent of capacity the week it ended, according to the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/league_of_american_theaters_and_producers/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about League of American Theaters and Producers" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; ">Broadway League</a>, although that bump is largely attributable to its 11 Tony nominations. On the week ended Aug. 9, the production made $480,000, selling 95 percent of seats. (The average ticket price over the four-month run has climbed to $82, from $51.)</p><p>“They’re selling to 90 percent-plus audiences. I think Twitter has something to do with that,” said Mr. Bazadona, of Situation Interactive.</p><p>Since the end of the Twitter performance, which often included links to audio clips from cast recordings, tweets between the production and fans have included a monthlong question-and-answer period.</p><p>When a follower asked what actors did between performances on the days of two performances, Saturday and Wednesday, Mr. Chanler-Berat responded, “Eat until I have to unbutton my pants.” Asked by another for their favorite aspect of the show-staging process, Jessica Phillips, the understudy for Ms. Ripley, wrote, “seeing people backstage in their underpants.”</p><p>Mr. Kitt and Mr. Yorkey recently invited followers to suggest ideas for a new song for the production, and will collaborate on lyrics with them over Twitter. While they will not incorporate the song into the production, they are planning to stage a public cast performance of it and make the song available as a digital download.</p><p>“In the process of this I became a Twitter convert, and I don’t say that lightly,” Mr. Yorkey said. “I’m always a little skeptical of whatever next new big thing comes out. I know that all of the half million followers are not equally engaged, but to think that we can have a relationship with an audience this size — far more than will ever see the show live — feels really new to me.”</p></nyt_text></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-31080001739652905122009-08-13T20:29:00.000-07:002009-08-13T20:29:00.300-07:00Emmys needs a new way to draw TV viewers; Can Twitter help?<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=Emmy;"></div><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Protests prompt the academy to abandon plans to pre-tape some categories.</h2><div id="story-body" class="articlebody " style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="toolSet" style="margin-right: -50px; margin-bottom: 14px; display: inline-block; margin-top: 6px; width: 332px; "><div class="byline" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); float: left; font-size:13px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block; ">By Matea Gold and Richard Verrier</span><p class="date" style="margin-top: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(147, 0, 0); font-style: italic; font-size:11px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline; ">August 13, 2009</span></p></div></span><div id="story-body-text" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.43; ">Forced to abandon its plan to truncate the presentation of some awards during the Emmys, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences now faces limited options in its efforts to broaden the appeal of next month's telecast.<br /><br />After push-back from the Hollywood guilds, the academy announced Wednesday that it was dropping the idea of pre-taping eight categories before the Sept. 20 show and airing edited clips of those acceptance speeches.<br /><br />"This decision was made to mend relationships within the television community," said television academy Chief Executive John Shaffner in a statement. "Our goal is to celebrate the year in television, honor excellence and this year's great achievements with the support of our industry colleagues and our telecast partner, CBS."<br /><br />The move marked a clear victory for the unions and cable networks like HBO, which had the most nominations in the categories that would have been pre-taped. But the academy's reversal robs producers of a tool they hoped would have boosted the ratings of the Emmys, which last year was dominated by niche cable shows with small followings.<br /><br />Just <b>12.3 million viewers</b>, one of the smallest Emmy audiences in two decades, tuned in for last year's production on ABC, which was co-hosted by a gaggle of reality show hosts. A record-low number of 18-to-49-year-olds watched.<br /><br />Executive producer Don Mischer did not return a call seeking comment about the approach that will be taken in next month's show. CBS also declined to comment.<br /><br />The Emmys isn't the only awards program that has seen its viewership slide and has sought to energize and widen its appeal with new schemes and tactics. In June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it was expanding its best picture category from five to 10 films after last year's show drew the lowest ratings for an Oscar telecast.<br /><br />Executives at the television academy and CBS had hoped to make this year's Emmys a bigger draw by shortening the amount of time spent on the movie and miniseries awards, which are dominated by the cable networks.<br /><br />Under the plan, announced last month, the academy planned to announce the winners of eight categories 45 minutes before the broadcast began at 5 p.m. PDT. Edited versions of their acceptance speeches would be woven into the program later.<br /><br />Producers said the move would have saved 12 to 15 minutes of airtime, which they had planned to devote to live entertainment and a look at popular shows such as "American Idol" and "CSI" that get little critical acclaim.<br /><br />"We're trying to make the Emmys more relevant to mainstream viewers while honoring the choices of the television academy properly and respectfully," Mischer said at the time.<br /><br />He promised that the pre-taped awards would be "presented with dignity and respect." Footage of the winners walking on and off stage would have been edited, but he said no one would be cut out of the telecast.<br /><br />But HBO, which has 18 nominations in the eight categories that Mischer proposed to pre-tape, complained that the maneuver would showcase broadcast network programming at the expense of cable's awards.<br /><br />And the creative guilds strenuously objected to the idea. The Writers Guild of America released a petition signed by 157 television writers and executive producers requesting that the academy retain all the writing categories in the live program. The Directors Guild of America sent the academy a letter saying the change would violate its agreement that the Emmys air live. The Writers Guild took a similar position.<br /><br />The unions have substantial pull, as they could have yanked the waivers they usually give the academy to air clips without paying licensing fees. Guild officials estimated that could have cost the academy an estimated $500,000.<br /><br />"We're pleased the academy listened to the writers' concerns," the Writers Guild of America, East, said in a statement Wednesday.<br /><br />The Writers Guild of America, West, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Directors Guild of America all applauded the decision as well in brief public statements.<br /><br />Some guild officials said they would welcome the opportunity to help the academy find ways of improving future shows and boosting viewership.<br /><br />"It's in our interests to make sure that the show is watched and appreciated and the important players in the industry are recognized," said Patric M. Verrone, president of WGA, West. "We're certainly here to consult and collaborate with the academy."</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-17108244566955855252009-08-11T14:01:00.000-07:002009-08-11T14:16:01.654-07:00Advertising 101, Comparing Online, TV, Cable, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, Billboards, and Twitter<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=advertising;"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Q:</span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"> </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6666;">I’m trying to decide between newspaper, magazine, billboards, online, radio, local cable… how do I evaluate different media opportunities?</span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">A:</span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"> </span></b></span>Every media form has different strengths and weaknesses.<span> </span>Some are better for long-term branding, some better for driving transactions.<span> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">But there’s a simple formula that will help evaluate your options… the CPM, or “Cost Per Thousands.”<span> </span>(‘M’ being the Roman numeral for a thousand.)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style=" ;color:red;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></span></p><span style=" ;color:red;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><blockquote>CPM = [Cost of Advertising Package / Projected Impressions] x 1,000</blockquote></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Writers sometimes approach math as though it were a dead language only spoken in Mel Gibson movies.<span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">But math can sometimes be your friend.<span> </span>Especially when it prevents you from getting screwed by someone with an ad to sell.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Let's start with the definition of <u><a href="http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/the_ad_man_answers/index.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Ratings</a></u>. The Super Bowl – doing a national 42.6 rating – translates to 93,890,400 adults watching the big game. Thus, each Super Bowl ad delivered 93.4 million “Impressions,” or sets of eyeballs that had the <em>potential</em> to view the commercial message.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Impressions are the universal currency of media planners.<span> </span>Every time you run an advertisement, you should have an idea how many potential impressions it will deliver.<span> </span>Some other examples:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>One ½-page newspaper ad in Columbus Disptach</strong> </span><span style=" ;font-family:Wingdings;"><span>à</span></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"> daily circulation of 231,881</span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>One radio spot on San Fran’s KFOG</strong> </span><span style=" ;font-family:Wingdings;"><span>à</span></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"> 2.0 rating (with each rating point translating to 1% of the population or 52,432 adults) = 104,864 impressions</span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>One ½-page magazine ad in Entertainment Weekly</strong> </span><span style=" ;font-family:Wingdings;"><span>à</span></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">1,760,815 paid circulation x 3.5 pass-along readership = 6,162,853 weekly impressions</span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>One freeway billboard on I-105 in Los Angeles</strong> </span><span style=" ;font-family:Wingdings;"><span>à</span></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"> 188,000 daily commuters passing sign x 30 days = 5,640,000 monthly impressions</span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">To figure out the CPM for the above examples, take the cost of the advertisement, divide by the potential impressions, then multiply by 1,000.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Super Bowl TV:<span> </span>$2,600,000 per spot / 93,890,400 x 1,000 =<strong>$27 CPM</strong></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Columbus newspaper: $6,680 per insertion / 231,881 x 1,000 = <strong>$29 CPM</strong></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">San Fran KFOG radio: $900 per spot / 104,864 x 1,000 = <strong>$9 CPM</strong></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Ent Weekly magazine: $72,025 per week/ 6,162,853 x 1,000 =<strong>$12 CPM</strong></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">LA freeway billboard: $20,000 per month / 5,640,000 x 1,000 = <strong>$4 CPM</strong></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong></strong></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Comparing the different options, you can see that the freeway billboard is the most cost-effective way to reach 1,000 people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Does that mean that everyone should start putting all their ad budgets into outdoor advertising?<span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">No, because there are other factors in play… like how long consumers get to spend with your message (60 seconds in radio vs. 2 seconds as you’re zooming past that freeway billboard while late for a meeting and still trying to scarf a double cheeseburger).<span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><u><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></u></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><u><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><b>Typical Advertising CPMs</b></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Outdoor = $1-5 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Cable TV = $5-8 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Radio = $8 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Online = $5-30 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Network/Local TV = $20 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Magazine = $10-30 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Newspaper = $30-35 CPM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Direct Mail = $250 CPM</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong></strong></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Generally, the more targeted the advertisement towards a certain demographic, the higher the CPM.<span> </span>So something with broad appeal like TIME Magazine (3,882,000 subscribers) can have a $15 CPM, while American Police Beat Magazine (60,000 subscribers) will have a CPM closer to $50.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">But if you’ve written a mystery that has specific appeal to beat cops, advertising in American Police Beat might still be your best option – despite the high CPM – because of the low out-of-pocket cost ($3,000) and minimal waste.<span> </span>If you’re spending $150,000 on a ½ page TIME Magazine ad in the hopes that it’s noticed by a bunch of police officers, when 99.9% of TIME’s readers are not in law enforcement, that’s a bad decision.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">CPMs are a guide, but used properly, they can help you negotiate for a better rate.<span> </span>Let’s say your buddy offers to let you run a banner ad on his website, which gets 2,000 homepage views per month.<span> </span>If he wants to charge $500 per month – which would be a $250 CPM – you need to tell that so-called “buddy” to stop smoking crack, or get more homepage views… because his CPM is nearly 10 times higher than a Super Bowl commercial.<span> </span>If he were to slash his price to $50/month ($25 CPM), now you’re in business.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span></p><h2>Definition of Twitter Impressions</h2><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Tweets * Followers = Impressions</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Waste factor = high</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">View time = seconds</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Cost to service = lowest among ad channels</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">CPM = cost per million??</span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-64556178484190471502009-08-08T10:50:00.000-07:002009-08-08T11:49:08.870-07:00Social Maven Succumbs to the Dark-Side? (@Scobleizer)<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=Scobleizer;"></div><br />After 2 years of aggressive following strategy at Twitter (see <a href="http://twitterholic.com/Scobleizer/">Twitterholic history</a>) to entice 100,000 fans to return the follow, Robert Scoble, a self-made social maven in Silicon Valley has decided to drop all his followers.<div><br /></div><div>Has this nice guy turned to the dark side?<br /></div><div><h2>Gaining Followers on Twitter</h2></div><div><br /></div><div>A common practice on Twitter is to <i>invite</i> people to follow you by following them first. In the early days of Twitter, 50% of the users returned the follow. A class of Twitter users, I call <i>social whales</i>, built up tens of thousands of followers with this patient practice. (i.e. a whale has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.) Mr. Scoble was one of tens of thousands of social whales. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the advice of friends, Mr. Scoble dropped 100,000 of his followers. His excuse is that he wanted to clean up his Twitter stream. (<a href="http://scobleizer.com/2009/08/05/you-are-so-unfollowed/">You are SO unfollowed!</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div>Dozens of social whales have faced this issue. The common-sense answer is to start a new Twitter account that follows only those of true interest to himself. Thus, the new account becomes an inbox - while the primary account is the outbox. Dozens of social whales have chosen this solution.</div><div><br /></div><div>By dropping 100,000 fans, Mr. Scoble has become a <i>pho-celeb</i>, a practice where users entice you with a follow and drop you to make themselves look popular. Tens of thousands unfortuantely behave like pho-celebs on Twitter. Mr. Scoble has just declared himself the King of pho-celebs with his public dismissal of 100,000 fans. </div><div><br /></div><div>Has Mr. Scoble made a social mistake and succumbed to the Dark Side? Should he publically apologize to his fans? Should he encourage more pho-celebs with this narcissistic practice?</div><br />What do you think? Please RT. <br /><b>Do you approve pho-celebs?</b><br /><script> phwritefeed("Scobleizer","twitter");</script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-81179262296678233312009-07-30T11:31:00.000-07:002009-07-30T11:34:37.700-07:00Southern Comfort Pours Entire Media Budget Into Digital<div class="phew" title="out=videowall;r=2;src=live;query=Southern Comfort;"></div><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.1em; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); ">Move Allows Brand to Buy Popular Network Shows Online Instead of Overcrowded Cable Fare</h2><p class="byline" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11px; "><em>By</em> <a href="mailto:jmullman@adage.com" title="E-mail author: Jeremy Mullman" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Jeremy Mullman</a><br /><em>Published:</em> <a href="http://adage.com/results?endeca=1&return=endeca&search_offset=0&search_order_by=score&search_phrase=07/29/2009" title="Browse all stories published on 07/29/2009" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 29, 2009</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "> </span></p><div align="right"><span id="yahooBuzzBadge-99721162521248978556688" class="yahooBuzzBadge yahooBuzzBadge-logo"><a href="http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fadage.com%2Farticle%3Farticle_id%3D138202" title="Vote for your favorite stories on Yahoo! Buzz" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "><span style="cursor: pointer; position: relative; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 16px; "><span style="cursor: pointer; display: block; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/ds/orion/1.0.8/img/badge-logo.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background- height: 16px; width: 16px; background-position: 0% 0%; color:transparent;"></span></span></a></span></div><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Brown-Forman's Southern Comfort brand -- weary of jostling for notice with other spirits brands during the narrow nightly window when they are permitted to advertise on cable -- is taking its entire media buy digital, allowing it access to programs online it couldn't touch on TV.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div class="rightrail_left" style="clear: left; float: left; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="story-image" style="position: relative; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/shdw-big.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 100%; "><img src="http://adage.com/images/bin/image/rightrail/soco-playboy-uncovered-072909.jpg?1248906968" width="255" height="191" alt="SoCo is a presenting sponsor of Playboy's 'Uncovered.'" title="SoCo is a presenting sponsor of Playboy's 'Uncovered.'" class="rightrail" style="position: relative; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: -5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -5px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-position: initial initial; " /></div><div class="captionrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); width: 272px; ">SoCo is a presenting sponsor of Playboy's 'Uncovered.'</div></div>Last year, SoCo spent $6 million of its $8 million measured media outlay on cable TV, and another $1.5 million on magazine ads. This year, both those numbers will drop to zero in favor of online properties such as Facebook, Spin, Fader, Pitchfork, Thrillist and Hulu.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Lena DerOhannessian, the brand's U.S. marketing director, said SoCo's tight focus on the youngest legal-drinking-age consumers drove the shift. "As we've focused more on 21 to 29, TV becomes less and less effective at reaching that audience," she said. "It was getting harder and harder to hit our target without so much waste."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The issue, Ms. DerOhannessian said, was the intense crowding of spirits brands within a few nightly cable shows, a result of restrictive rules about where and when spirits companies are permitted to advertise. (National networks still do not accept liquor advertising, although a growing number of affiliates have been breaking with that practice of late.)</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">"You're usually in the same program, if not the same pod, with another spirits advertiser," she said. "That was just a game we didn't want to keep playing." Instead, SoCo is opting to grab digital properties where it can be the sole alcohol sponsor. And those include network programs that the brand would've been forbidden from touching on TV (see the full list at the bottom of this story).</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">It's also cheaper. Ms. DerOhannessian said savings from the switch to a 100% digital media buy will allow the brand to bolster its presence in bars and at retail, as well as through events. It will also give it a significant footprint online, where a $10 million budget stretches very far.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The media-budget shift comes amid tough sales trends for the brand. It suffered a mid-single-digit sales decline during the fiscal year that ended April 30, Brown-Forman Chief Financial Officer Don Berg told Wall Street analysts on a June earnings call. "Southern Comfort has suffered from the consumer switch to the off-premise, where consumers are less inclined to make complicated drinks," he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The brand's media agency is Interpublic's Universal McCann, and its creative shop is Havas' Arnold Worldwide.</p><table border="0" width="300" cellpadding="0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 40px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; float: center; "><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table><h2 class="subhead" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Southern Comfort's digital partnerships</h2><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Facebook:</strong> Fan page featuring custom video, exclusive events, party pics, SMS programs, news, recipes and video clips.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Spin:</strong> Sponsorship of the top 50 cover songs of all time, with 10 free downloads, "tab covered by" Southern Comfort.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Playboy:</strong> Presenting sponsorship of the Playboy "Uncovered" series highlighting artists paying tribute to legends who have inspired them.</p><div class="rightrail_right" style="clear: right; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 12px; "><div class="story-image" style="position: relative; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/shdw-big.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 100%; "><img src="http://adage.com/images/bin/image/rightrail/soco-fadertv-atthebar-072909.jpg?1248906960" width="255" height="191" alt="Fader's 'At the Bar' series" title="Fader's 'At the Bar' series" class="rightrail" style="position: relative; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: -5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -5px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-position: initial initial; " /></div><div class="captionrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); width: 272px; ">Fader's 'At the Bar' series</div></div><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>The Fader:</strong> "At the Bar" with Southern Comfort series featuring 10 pop-up sessions with local artists performing acoustically and discussing their musical influences.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Pitchfork:</strong> "Faces in the Crowd" series featuring artist interviews by fans, Pitchfork Music Festival, Monolith Festival and Voodoo Experience.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Thrillist:</strong> E-newsletters touting the brand, story, events and drinks.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>NBC:</strong> Online spots running in and around prime-time NBC shows such as "30 Rock," "The Office," "Jay Leno," "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" and "Saturday Night Live," among others.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>NBC Local:</strong> Friday-through-Sunday takeover of the "What You're Doing Tonight" section, with home-page coverage before each Southern Comfort music-series event.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Break.com:</strong> "Southern Comfort House Rules!" original series featuring a cast of characters showcasing how they prepare for, host and entertain during various themed house parties.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>My Damn Channel:</strong> Sponsorship of "Grace Crashers," an original series starring Grace Helbig as the ultimate party crasher as she and her crew show up unannounced at parties around Halloween, Holiday and Mardi Gras</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Comedy Central:</strong> "Holiday Survival Guide" featuring Comedy Central comedians providing tips for getting out of sticky holiday situations.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Hulu:</strong> First spirits advertiser to run the Ad Selector model, where consumers will be able to choose the Southern Comfort message they want to watch.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>CBS, Fox and FX:</strong> Full player takeovers around top-rated prime-time shows such as "How I Met Your Mother," "Late Show With David Letterman," "Rules of Engagement," "CSI," "24" and "Arrested Development," among others.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-78455472267548369982009-07-26T10:35:00.000-07:002009-07-26T10:37:58.572-07:00Advertisers, Consumers Disagree on Ad Effectiveness (Harris)<img src="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.jpg" title="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.jpg" alt="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.jpg" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /><h2 style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; "><br /></h2><h2 style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; "><a href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/topics/advertisers-consumers-disagree-on-ad-effectiveness-9900/" rev="attachment" style="color: rgb(47, 38, 38); text-decoration: none; ">Advertisers, Consumers Disagree on Ad Effectiveness</a></h2><img src="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-logo35.gif" width="150" height="31" class="left" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; float: left; padding-right: 12px; " /><div class="spreadsheet-link" style="clear: both; font-size: 11px; "></div><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">Though advertisers and consumers both agree that amusing ads are effective and scary and guilt-inducing ads are not, they don’t see eye-to-eye on the efficacy of other types of advertising appeals, including those that make people stop and think, provide new information, and show before/after scenarios, <a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/pubs/Harris_Poll_2009_07_21.pdf" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">according to</a> (pdf) a <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">LinkedIn</a> Research Network/<a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Harris Poll</a>. </p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-linkedin-effectiveness-ad-types-advertisers-consumers-june-2009.jpg" title="harris-interactive-linkedin-effectiveness-ad-types-advertisers-consumers-june-2009.jpg" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><img src="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-linkedin-effectiveness-ad-types-advertisers-consumers-june-2009.thumbnail.jpg" alt="harris-interactive-linkedin-effectiveness-ad-types-advertisers-consumers-june-2009.jpg" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">The study also found that ads that “talk money,” including those that show a value proposition and offer luxuries for less during the recession are much more appealing to consumers than those that take an empathetic or cheerleading approach in these times of economic hardship.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/topics/advertisers-consumers-disagree-on-ad-effectiveness-9900/harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009jpg/" rel="attachment wp-att-9902" title="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.jpg" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><img src="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.thumbnail.jpg" alt="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-addressing-economic-crisis-working-types-june-2009.jpg" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Effectiveness of Specific Ad Types</strong></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">When it comes to types of ads, the study found that advertisers and consumers agree on the effectiveness of some, but disagree on others:</p><ul style="list-style-type: square; "><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">While more than half of advertisers believe ads that make people stop and think (53%) and ads that give people new information (51%) are very effective, just three in ten consumers (30% and 29% respectively) feel the same.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">26% of advertisers think ads that are integrated into the feel of the program, that is has the same tone as the program it is based in, are very effective compared with just 7% of consumers.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">When it comes to ads that show before/after, 24% of advertisers say they are very effective while 13% of consumers say they are very effective.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">One in five advertisers (21%) say ads that reinforce a message already known are very effective, compared with only 10% of consumers.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">Consumers and advertisers both like ads that amuse. More than one-third (34%) of consumers and 41% of advertisers say entertaining ads are very effective, and one-third of both consumers (33%) and advertisers (32%) say funny ads are very effective. However, there is a fine line in amusement as just one in ten consumers (11%) and 14% of advertisers say ads that don’t take themselves seriously are very effective. Almost one in five consumers (18%) say these ads are not at all effective.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">41% of consumers (41%) 32% of advertisers believe that scary ads are not at all effective.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">27% of consumers and 18% of advertisers say ads about a serious topic that make people feel guilty are not at all effective.</li></ul><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Recession Consumers Like Value Propositions<br /></strong></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">The study also examined the perceived effectiveness of ads currently being used to address the economic crisis, and revealed that value proposition strategies and “luxuries for less” approaches resonate most with consumers.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">Notable findings:</p><ul style="list-style-type: square; "><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">Three in five advertisers (61%) say they are using a value proposition strategy, promoting sales, coupons and discounts. Almost three in five consumers (57%) say that this strategy is working very well or well to help them sell their products or services.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">Two in five advertisers (39%) are using empathy approaches, attempting to convey that companies understand what consumers are going through. But only one-quarter of consumers (24%) say empathy works very or somewhat well, and one-third (33%) say it does not work at all.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">One-fourth of advertisers (25%) say they are using cheerleading (”we’ve made it through tough times before, we’ll do it again, and we can help you do it.”) Almost two in five (38%) of consumers, however, say that these types of ads do not work at all.</li><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">Though less than one in five advertisers (18%) say they are using the “luxuries for less” proposition, one-third of consumers (34%) say these types of ads work very well or well in selling products or services</li></ul><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">The study also found that there is a generational divide as the younger age groups (18- 34) are more likely to say each of these four strategies works very well or well. In fact, more than half of 18-34 year olds (51%) say they think “luxuries for less” works very well or well compared to just 19% of those 55 and older.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/topics/advertisers-consumers-disagree-on-ad-effectiveness-9900/harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-effective-addressing-economic-crisis-age-june-2009jpg/" rel="attachment wp-att-9903" title="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-effective-addressing-economic-crisis-age-june-2009.jpg" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><img src="http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-effective-addressing-economic-crisis-age-june-2009.thumbnail.jpg" alt="harris-interactive-linkedin-ads-effective-addressing-economic-crisis-age-june-2009.jpg" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">Previously published results from the same poll also revealed that <a href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/majority-of-us-consumers-peeved-by-internet-ads-9873/" style="color: rgb(74, 73, 114); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">consumers are very frustrated</a> by many of today’s popular types of internet ads.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; "><em>About the survey:</em> The poll was conducted online within the US from June 24-26, 2009, among 2,025 adults (ages 18+) and between June 22 and 30, 2009 among 1,105 advertisers. For the adults, figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents‘ propensity to be online. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-82608119635354240392009-07-22T18:11:00.000-07:002010-11-11T09:00:36.251-08:005 Rules for Buying and Selling Advertising on Twitter<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=tweet;"></div>Can you buy a tweet as an ad on Twitter? Yes.<div><br /></div><div>Can you sell a tweet as an ad on Twitter? Yes, but...</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's some background to guide your decisions.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Rules for Sellers</b></div><div><br /></div><div>With high jobless rates, millions are eager to make money from Twitter; or justify the time spent on Twitter to gain followers. Since Twitter is seemingly simple, millions are incentivized to try. But...</div><div><ol><li>Do you have 50,000 followers? Or at least 20,000? Advertisers have no interest to buy a smaller audience.</li><li>Can you tweet frequently enough to give advertisers the impressions that they need? </li><li>Can you deliver enough clicks to beat AdWords? Does the rate you charge beat Adwords' average of $0.50 per click?</li><li>Assuming that you can deliver 100 clicks per day for an ad buyer, who will sell the ads? How much will it cost to sell the ads?</li><li>At $50 per day, does this revenue cover your selling cost and tweeting time?</li></ol><div>Like any media, building the circulation, selling ads, and distributing tweets is a fulltime job. Do you have the will, skills, and tenacity?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why Buy Ads on Twitter</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Why would marketers buy tweets as ads on Twitter?</div><div><br /></div><div>Twitter is the first comprehensive marketing tool that allows a marketer to track the entire marketing funnel. (ed: You read this first, here. No doubt, other blogs and journalists will copy and fail to attribute the source. Sad ;-)</div><div><ul><li>Gain suspects as followers</li><li>Call to action through clicks on tweets</li><li>Digital word-of-mouth through satisfied customers</li></ul><div>No other media provides countable returns at the top, bottom, and through the funnel. It's not only the cheapest marketing, but the most comprehensive. No other media, TV, radio, newspapers, AdWords, coupons, deliver the full funnel.</div><div><br /></div><div>As most Twitter users have learned, it's not easy to get huge followings. Further, it's very difficult to gain clicks on tweets. Most tweets are simply ignored. Without followers and clicks, can one gain retweets and digital word-of-mouth?</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the role of a Twitter network.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=Twitter Ads;"></div><div><b>Rules for Buying Twitter Ads</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Hundreds of Twitter networks claim to deliver. A strong Twitter ad network helps marketers gain on all aspects of the marketing funnel, i.e. followers, clicks, and re-tweets. Here's what to look for:</div><div><ol><li>Huge followings and tweet frequency matters. Without both, advertisers cannot gain enough impressions to earn followers, clicks, and re-tweets.</li><li>Avoid the hard sell. Keep your tweets entertaining and educational. Twitter is a social network, not condusive to a one-tweet close.</li><li>Can you target with relevant ads? Not in the traditional sense of a purchased mailing list. Those who say otherwise, don't understand Twitter. They are selling what you want to hear. The majority of people follow on Twitter as a social gesture, not necessarily common interests. Further, the Twitter SUL (Suggested User List) pushes newbies to follow random accounts. However, the clicks are targeted since users opt-in on tweets that interest them. Thus, #1 above rules completely when applied to Twitter marketing.</li><li>Should you use a random third-party ad system that sends tweets on unknown accounts? Like all advertising, it's better to associate with known parties when sending your ads as tweets. Rather than 20,000 accounts with 50 followers each; it's better to use 50 accounts with 20,000 followers each. The latter lends more credibility, brand image; and thus better results.</li><li>Many tweets is better than one repetitive tweet. As stated in rule 2, keep the conversation entertaining and interesting.</li></ol><div>Should you buy Twitter ads?</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's inexpensive, more comprehensive in terms of measured ROI; and in the hands of the right Twitter network - incredibly effective.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have you had success with Twitter marketing?</div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-63182876643177599242009-07-16T16:45:00.000-07:002009-09-02T14:05:54.834-07:00Project Lifetime - The reality is, to beat her competitors in cable TV, Andrea Wong has to put on a good show.<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=google;query=Lifetime Andrea Wong;"></div><h2>The reality is, to beat her competitors in cable TV, Andrea Wong has to put on a good show.</h2><h3 style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(139, 174, 142); margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(94, 125, 152); text-transform: uppercase; padding-bottom: 10px;">BY JAKE HALPERN</h3><p style=";font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><span class="leadin" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-transform: uppercase;font-size:13px;" >IT'S A SUNDAY EVENING</span> in a deserted office building in midtown Manhattan and Andrea Wong, the 42-year-old CEO of Lifetime Networks, is midway through a dress rehearsal for a sales pitch. Wong isn't hyping a new star, or a new movie, or even a new series. She's touting an entire year's worth of programming and, if she succeeds, she'll secure the majority of Lifetime's ad revenue for an entire year. This is a mega-pitch, worth several hundred million dollars, and Wong, MBA '93, needs to nail it.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The pitch, running precisely 53 minutes, involves short speeches and a number of video clips. Wong and her staff are watching a clip from an original sitcom—<em>Sherri —</em>starring Sherri Shepherd, the boisterous actress who co-hosts <em>The View.</em>Sherri is explaining why she won't give her two-timing husband a second chance.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Wong's staff has devoted more than 200 meetings and 2 1/2 months of work to fine-tuning this presentation. They know this clip's punch line by heart, and even so, most of them chuckle. Wong doesn't crack a smile: The only question that matters now is whether ad executives will laugh.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In the coming week, Wong and her staff will shuttle around Manhattan to make their case in the boardrooms of 13 major ad agencies. They won't be the only ones out there selling. Each spring, usually at grand centralized events, the heads of the major broadcast and cable networks converge on Manhattan to pitch their shows. The ritual known as upfronts (a time to buy ads "up front," before the season begins) can make or break a network or, for that matter, the network's CEO.</p><br /><a href="http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/julaug/features/wong.html">full article</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-72509996005126417532009-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:002009-07-14T12:19:43.677-07:00Can Early Hype Benefit New TV Shows Come Fall?<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=NBC lineup;"></div><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.1em; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); ">Networks Are Using Multiple Forms of Media to Start Creating Potential Audience</h2><p class="byline" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11px; ">by <a href="mailto:bsteinberg@adage.com" title="E-mail editor: Brian Steinberg" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Brian Steinberg</a><br /><em>Published:</em> <a href="http://adage.com/results?endeca=1&return=endeca&search_offset=0&search_order_by=score&search_phrase=07/13/2009" title="Browse all stories published on 07/13/2009" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 13, 2009</a></p><div align="right"><a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Can+Early+Hype+Benefit+New+TV+Shows+Come+Fall%3F+http%3A%2F%2Fadage.com%2Fu%2FJ0YS9b" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "></a><span id="yahooBuzzBadge-65209402521247595575576" class="yahooBuzzBadge yahooBuzzBadge-logo"><a href="http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fadage.com%2Fmadisonandvine%2Farticle%3Farticle_id%3D137882" title="Vote for your favorite stories on Yahoo! Buzz" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "><span style="cursor: pointer; position: relative; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 16px; "><span style="cursor: pointer; display: block; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/ds/orion/1.0.5/img/badge-logo.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background- height: 16px; width: 16px; background-position: 0% 0%; color:transparent;"></span></span></a></span></div><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Can you interest a TV viewer in a new fall show when he or she is wholly immersed in the activities of early summer -- or, more removed still, enjoying older programs in the late spring? TV networks are trying to determine whether promoting new shows earlier can bring them bigger audiences come September and October.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div class="rightrail_left" style="clear: left; float: left; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="story-image" style="position: relative; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/shdw-big.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 100%; "><img src="http://adage.com/images/bin/image/rightrail/flashforward071309.jpg?1247501884" width="255" height="191" alt="ABC ran promos for 'Flash Forward' even before the network had publicly admitted it was picking up the show for the fall." title="ABC ran promos for 'Flash Forward' even before the network had publicly admitted it was picking up the show for the fall." class="rightrail" style="position: relative; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: -5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -5px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-position: initial initial; " /></div><div class="captionrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); width: 272px; ">ABC ran promos for 'Flash Forward' even before the network had publicly admitted it was picking up the show for the fall.<div class="creditrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Photo Credit: ABC</div></div></div><br />Walt Disney's ABC sparked thoughts of fall in late April by running seconds-long promos for its new mysterious drama "Flash Forward" even before the network had publicly admitted it was picking up the show for the fall. News Corp.'s Fox, meanwhile, aggressively promoted its highly anticipated sing-along drama "Glee" by running the show's pilot after one of the last episodes of "American Idol" for the 2008-2009 season. CBS has embraced an intriguing tactic to arm itself for fall: It's giving affiliates promotional materials to tout programming in the 10 p.m. hour in advance of NBC's "Jay Leno Show" talk-show launch.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Within the industry, the failure rate for new broadcast-TV programs is widely estimated to be 75% to 80%. So it's no surprise the networks have begun to stray from business-as-usual launch plans that call for nearly all of the promotion for a new show to start mere weeks before its autumn debut. Thanks to the rise of social-networking techniques involving YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, tipping off die-hard fans to early peeks at selected programs can lead -- or so network executives hope -- to more buzz and a viral priming of the pump that create larger audiences of interest come September.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">"When you launch a show in the fall, it's like the box office: You've got to get everyone there for the premiere. And then you've got to get them back for week two, which only gives you six days to convince those who want to come back and to try to get new people," explained Joe Earley, exec VP-marketing and communications, Fox Broadcasting. "What we're doing now gives us four months to try to get people to sample and come on board."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Time to break tradition</strong><br />The networks aren't abandoning their pre-season maneuvers. Late August and early September have been filled for years with clever promotional stunts, such as putting ads for specific CBS programs on eggs and deli packages -- even supermarket freezer doors. Fox once orchestrated a city-by-city tour for its now canceled "Terminator" series. "There is no substitute" for heavy marketing in the weeks before a program's launch, said Rick Haskins, exec VP-marketing for the CW.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">And yet the networks are realizing that they needn't stay rooted to tradition. New dramas and comedies cost millions of dollars to produce and promote, and many of them are substantially more complex and harder to explain than those of the past. "Flash Forward" centers on a worldwide phenomenon that leaves people seeing months into their future, then trying to tie their present to their visions of days ahead. "Glee" boasts a radical new concept for prime-time TV: a story about a chorale group in a local high school whose members hail from different strata of teen society (try mixing "Cop Rock" with "Freaks and Geeks"), and includes songs in every episode.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">As a result, networks are starting to give certain fall-season candidates priority, and then use many different forms of media to build exposure to potential audiences, said Michael Benson, exec VP-marketing, ABC Entertainment Group. "You've got to start earlier on" TV shows, he said. Not only will ABC try to get promos in front of audiences for notable spring and summer content, such as season finales, the NBA Finals or "Wipeout," but will also use emerging venues, such as search terms and viral web sites. "We've got to go beyond just putting a promo out to build awareness," said Mr. Benson.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Indeed, many networks followed the official announcements of their fall lineups by putting up clips on their own sites and on YouTube. NBC went out and purchased ads related to keywords for its new comedy "Community" as well as the "Jay Leno Show," said Adam Stotsky, president-marketing, NBC Entertainment. "We can be there with not only links to our website but also be driving messaging through paid placement," he said. Likewise, the CW had YouTube clips of its fall dramas up online right after its upfront presentation, said Mr. Haskins, and has created "fan" pages on Facebook (As of Tuesday, a page for the coming drama "Vampire Diaries" had 7100 "friends.")</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Tried and true techniques</strong><br />Some of these techniques are tried and true. ABC has long used its NBA Finals as a promotional venue, and running ads on TV for the fall right after an upfront presentation is a technique NBC has used in the past. Still, there's an emerging sense that networks can do more to goose interest over a longer period of time, thanks to the rise of the web as a media vehicle.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Because online media tends to attract enthusiastic niches of people with very specific interests, TV marketers end up "talking to an audience that is voracious in its appetite for information," said Mr. Stotsky. "What was historically germane to just fanboys is become how the mass mainstream is learning about new ideas, new shows, and building relationships with those shows and expectations for those shows -- well in advance of their actually coming to air."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Of course, none of this precludes the heavy hype and promotional artillery fire TV viewers come to expect as the leaves get ready to turn color. "Every year, there is more pressure to get attention," said George Schweitzer, president-CBS Marketing Group. "This is early-awareness stuff. This isn't the heavy lifting yet."</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-2660113967302785612009-07-13T18:58:00.000-07:002009-07-13T19:50:51.923-07:00Are All Social Networks the Same? BW asks: What's a Friend Worth?<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=social network;"></div>In an age when Obama has become President, it's embarrassing for the primary press to continue to lump new technology trends into one bucket. <div><br /></div><div>Are all social networks the same? Are all Chinese slant-eyed geeks? Are all blacks the same? Are we asking the wrong questions?</div><div><br /></div><div>As with race issues, a little knowledge leading to general ignorance shouldn't be tolerated.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's a Friend Worth?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The cover of the June issue of BusinessWeek asks, "What's a Friend Worth?" Not to single out BW, but many primary news organizations have promoted the same thinking - flawed thinking.</div><div><br /></div><div>The assumption that all social networks depend on the notion of expanding circles of friends makes them all the same. This notion IS in common among Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, NYTimes, and others are trying to copy the same notion. Thus, are all social networks the same?</div><div><br /></div><div>No.</div><div><br /></div><div>Only to superficial analysts who can't see beyond the color of faces.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Facebook for Friends</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Facebook is about past friends. I've reconnected with hundreds of old friends via Facebook. </div><div><br /></div><div>Facebook is not particularly effective for making new friends. The policy for dual agreement to connect - slows one's ability to gain connections on Facebook. With my open policy to connect, about 150 of my connections are new. And many of those who spam frequently, I wish I had not connected with them at all.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>LinkedIn for Business Development</b></div><div><br /></div><div>LinkedIn is about business connections - some old, some new. </div><div><br /></div><div>LinkedIn is not effective for maintaining touch among friends. LinkedIn does do a good job to introduce people with common business interests. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Twitter for List Development</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Twitter is not for friends, but for lists. </div><div><br /></div><div>A minority may use Twitter to maintain touch among true friends. But, it's not particularly rich in features to support contact management.</div><div><br /></div><div>In reality, Twitter is list management. Celebrities use it to manage their fan base. Millions compete to develop their mutual lists. It's an adult game, popular among marketers and entrepreneurs.</div><div><br /></div><div>Everyone loves it for receiving, sharing, and distributing information.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Myspace is Neverland</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Myspace was the leader. I'm not sure what community they serve. Not surprisingly, they are losing share rapidly to the new leaders. </div><div><br /></div><div>What will happen to Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and NYTimes' efforts to build social networks? If they have poor execution and follow the mixed vision from the likes of Business Week, they will have the same future as Myspace. With a clear vision, there's room for more communities based on the common social network notion.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Copying Features</b></div><div><br /></div><div>When social networks copy features from each other, are they moving to displace the other? </div><div><br /></div><div>Not necessarily.</div><div><br /></div><div>The stronger companies will copy only those features that reinforce their position in the marketplace. We don't need alarming headlines that suggest XYZ is after ABC by copying one feature of their services. </div><div><br /></div><div>American capitalism requires competition. It also makes great headlines. But, don't believe everything you read.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's a Friend Worth?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the question of the worth of a friend. Is it a relevant question - given the different focus of the various sites? </div><div><br /></div><div>Is a subscriber a friend? Is a friend a friend? Is a follower a friend? Is a connection a friend?</div><div><br /></div><div>Apples and oranges.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stupid question.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-59174424974583230392009-07-07T10:42:00.000-07:002009-07-07T10:44:23.830-07:00Combine Social Media with Traditional Tactics: 3 Campaign Examples from IBM<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=IBM Twitter;"></div><strong>SUMMARY:</strong> As the number of social media channels continues to grow, it can be daunting to figure out which tools suit which purposes for marketing.<br /><br />See how an IBM VP combines social media with traditional tactics for product development, event promotion, and demand generation. Includes lessons learned and highlights from three campaigns.<div class="articleContent" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; ">Sandy Carter, VP Service Oriented Architecture and WebSphere, IBM, has been incorporating social media into IBM’s marketing since 2006. She and her team started slowly with corporate blogs, and lately have pushed into hosting forums and using third-party social networks.<br /><br />A key lesson learned is that is that using social media channels is not a strategy unto itself.<br /><br />"All of our campaigns involve a combination of traditional marketing, plus social media," Carter says. "We actually don’t believe in a solid social media campaign. We always combine it."<br /><br />We spoke with Carter to discuss three IBM marketing campaigns that featured prominent roles for social media and online communities. Read on to learn how social media fit into the context of these larger strategies, and how the team combined social media with traditional tactics.<br /><br /><b>Campaign #1. Harnessing group knowledge for product development</b><br /><br />In 2007, Carter and her team were building an IBM platform for Web-based applications called WebSphere sMash. At the time, IBM’s website had a robust set of online forums where developers discussed technical topics. That community represented a large skill and knowledge base.<br /><br />To make sMash as strong as possible, the team listened to developers’ needs through traditional methods, including focus groups and analyst reports. Then, Carter’s team supplemented that information by going to the Web to ask developers for their opinions.<br /><br />Channels included:<br />o IBM-hosted forum<br />o IBM-hosted blog<br />o Twitter feed<br /><br />The team explained their vision for the product, and asked developers:<br />o "Is this something you want?"<br />o "What sort of features do you need?"<br /><br />Information came pouring in, with about 4,500 postings to the IBM forum alone, Carter says. The team gathered this information, mined it for insights, and incorporated some of the advice into subsequent beta releases.<br /><br />- On-going updates<br /><br />Traditionally, the team’s development process followed this basic schedule:<br />o Issue a beta release<br />o Accept feedback for about six weeks<br />o Make updates to the product<br />o Release the final version to the public<br /><br />The process for sMash’s release was more on-going, Carter says.<br /><br />"We actually did beta releases on the blog, websites and forums we had. And almost every night we would take some of that feedback, post a new build, and people would download it and provide us feedback. And we did this continuous loop on the information that came in."<br /><br />The community helped design everything from the user interface to the product’s name.<br /><br />- Successful launch<br /><br />Since its 2008 launch, WebSphere sMash has been regularly growing in usage, Carter says.<br /><br />"We’ve already had 81 subscribers on Amazon EC2, which is more than any other product placed there." Amazon EC2 is a service used by developers to access resizable computing capacity.<br /><br />The number of people downloading the platform from IBM’s website has increased 20% over the last four months.<br /><br /><b>Campaign #2. Building a community, promoting an event, generating leads</b><br /><br />The team ran a 100-city road show on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) during the first two weeks of October, 2008. The goals were to bring together the SOA community in-person, further the community’s knowledge, and help IBM generate leads for its tools and solutions.<br /><br />Furthermore, Carter’s team wanted the SOA community to stay connected online before and after the event. The team used social media and interactive elements to not only promote the event, but to hold the community together afterward.<br /><br /><i>-> Step #1. Promotion</i><br /><br />In addition to traditional marketing -- including direct mail, display advertising, and one-to-one invitations -- the team used the following social and interactive elements to promote the event:<br /><br />- Bot<br /><br />On arrival to IBM’s SOA website, visitors saw an animated, 3-D person walk around the page with an offer for the event in her hand. When clicked, the person brought visitors to the event registration page. The "bot," as Carter calls it, increased clickthrough rates to the registration page a whopping six-fold.<br /><br />- Twitter<br /><br />The team sent messages on the micro-blogging service that included a promotion code. When customers signed up for the event with the code, they were allotted 30-minutes to talk with one of IBM’s Chief Technical officers at the conference.<br /><br />Within three days, 40 people registered to speak with the CTO in Amsterdam alone, Carter says.<br /><br />- Blogs<br /><br />The team also blogged about the conference on several of their developer-oriented blogs. These posts, combined with the efforts on Twitter, encouraged some developers to mention the event in their personal blogs, feeds, and social networking pages. Some customers created groups on Facebook, and at least one created a LinkedIn group, Carter says.<br /><br />"With all these social media add-ons, we got an incremental 10% lift in our registrations for virtually no cost."<br /><br /><i>-> Step #2. Connect customers</i><br /><br />The team worked with a third-party provider to build an online community website called SOAsocial. Having a third-party host the community was important to avoid the appearance of an IBM-dominated and -based community. The team wanted the community to grow on its own.<br /><br /><i>-> Step #3. Encourage engagement and user-generated content</i><br /><br />The team encouraged customers to take pictures at the events and post them to the photo-sharing website Flickr. This helped spur the community into action, and also helped Carter’s team save money.<br /><br />"We usually have a photographer take pictures of the events. We had 100 events, and it would have cost us about $100,000 to have a photographer at each and every one of those cities, taking pictures and recording that for us," Carter says.<br /><br /><i>-> Step #4. Follow-up widget</i><br /><br />After the event, the attendees stayed connected through the SOAsocial network. Carter’s team wanted to stay connected with them too, since the attendees were potential customers for IBM’s SOA tools.<br /><br />The team built a widget that supplied the often-requested event presentations. The widget could be placed on a blog or website, or downloaded onto a computer.<br /><br />"The cool thing about that for us is that the widget is driven by RSS feeds. So now that they have that widget, when we have news, we push that information out to those customers," Carter says. "If there is a new product, we can push a demo out to them."<br /><br />Best of all, about 67% of the conferences’ attendees downloaded the widget, Carter says.<br /><br />- Additional sales promotion<br /><br />The widget also linked to and encouraged users to visit IBM’s SOA website to check out products.<br /><br /><b>Campaign #3. Energizing the market with interactive game</b><br /><br />To help stimulate, build and further educate the market about SOA technology, in 2006 Carter’s team created a free 3-D game called INNOV8.<br /><br />The game featured all the elements you’d expect from a computer game: interactivity, a hero, a villain, and a plot. The game also included SOA lessons throughout the experience.<br /><br />During 2007, over 1,000 universities downloaded and played INNOV8.<br /><br />- New educational content<br /><br />Although not a socially-oriented game, INNOV8 served as an accessible way for people to learn about SOA and eventually become contributing members of the community that IBM was building.<br /><br />"INNOV8 helps customers learn SOA concepts in a much more consumable way," Carter says.<br /><br />Through research done in 2008, the team found that students taught through the game had an 80% higher recall on SOA topics than other students. They also found that graduates who had used the game in school were taking it with them into the business world to teach their coworkers.<br /><br />- More accessible<br /><br />INNOV8’s second version was Web-based, meaning it could be played on any computer with an Internet connection. That platform made it easier for people to share the game.<br /><br />- Social promotion<br /><br />For the second version, the team also created leader boards that listed the players with the highest scores.<br /><br />They promoted the game through a separate Twitter feed, and through IBM’s blogs and forums. Promoting in social forums made it easier for people to connect with like-minded friends and coworkers after learning about the game. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-9660509273979989252009-07-06T10:21:00.000-07:002009-07-06T10:24:15.741-07:00Learning Twitter? Don't Take Your Cues From Ad Agencies<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=Ad Agencies;"></div><h2>Some Tweet Deftly, While Others Lag Clients</h2><p class="byline" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11px; ">Posted by <a href="mailto:rparekh@adage.com" title="E-mail editor: Rupal Parekh" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Rupal Parekh</a> on <em><a href="http://adage.com/results?endeca=1&return=endeca&search_offset=0&search_order_by=score&search_phrase=07/06/2009" title="Browse all content published on 07/06/2009" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">07.06.09</a> @ 08:00 AM</em></p><div align="right" style="text-align: left;">NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As Twitter moves into the business mainstream -- nearing some 35 million unique global visitors, according to ComScore -- it's increasingly clear that one community has yet to fully embrace the social-networking tool du jour: agencies.</div><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The irony is that the same people clients hire to erect communications and social-media strategies often appear uncomfortable using Twitter themselves.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">One stark example: A couple of months back, Volvo struck a landmark ad-placement deal with YouTube to promote the Twitter feed for its XC60 model (<a href="http://twitter.com/VolvoXC60" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@VolvoXC60</a>). But the agency that created the innovative rich-media ad for Volvo, Havas' Euro RSCG, has an account (<a href="http://twitter.com/Euro_RSCG" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@Euro_RSCG</a>) that's never been used.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Asked what gives, a Euro spokeswoman said: "We're developing our Twitter strategy and in the meantime want to hold onto the name. It's a Catch-22: You don't want your Twitter handle stolen, but you also don't want to start using it before you're really ready."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Whatever the case may be, save for a few shining examples of shops that "get it," agencies need to catch up with their clients -- and fast.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Marketers offer better examples</strong><br />Many marketers are known for successfully leveraging Twitter to boost brand awareness and interact with their consumers, among them Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (<a href="http://twitter.com/zappos" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@zappos</a>) and the chief marketing officers of Best Buy (Barry Judge, <a href="http://twitter.com/BestBuyCMO" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@BestBuyCMO</a>) and Express (<a href="http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=136239" title="How Express Markets in 140 Characters or Less" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Lisa Gavales</a>).</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Computer maker Dell's strides in integrating social media into the company's marketing communications have been well-documented. But its lead marketing agency, Enfatico, doesn't own the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/enfatico" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@enfatico</a>, and roster shop Mother, New York, has an account (<a href="http://twitter.com/motherny" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@motherny</a>) with a single update from May.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Sure, the argument can be made that Twitter isn't for everyone. And perhaps it's better to not be there at all than to be there poorly. Case in point: Digital shop Publicis Modem, London (<a href="http://twitter.com/PublicisModemUK" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@PublicisModemUK</a>), declares in its bio that it is "one of the world's leading digital agencies operating in 36 countries," yet its tweets are sloppy, riddled with grammatical errors and say things such as "2 hours to work...not that fun."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>'Thinking about tequila'</strong><br />Grey has set up a Twitter account just for its interns, but it might want to keep a better eye on its content.<a href="http://twitter.com/GreyNYInterns" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@GreyNYInterns</a> has informed the world it is "thinking about tequila" (at 9:30 a.m.; let's hope they're working on a liquor brand) and talked about seemingly proprietary information: "E*Trade brainstorm session. Do we use the baby or not?"</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Then there's the problem of ownership of agency brands. Check out the Twitter feeds <a href="http://twitter.com/BBDO" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@BBDO</a> and<a href="http://twitter.com/Publicis" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@Publicis</a>, and you'll land on the pages for the networks' Dusseldorf, Germany, and Zurich outposts, respectively, rather than the pages for the motherships.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">It's even worse at the holding-company level. The handle <a href="http://twitter.com/Havas" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@Havas</a> is following zero people, has zero followers and has one update: "on vacation." Meanwhile, the world's biggest holding company, WPP (<a href="http://twitter.com/wpponline" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@wpponline</a>), has the biggest presence of its competitors, with an impressive 3,000 or so followers. Hard to understand why, though, because it follows no one back -- not even its own agency brands -- and the feed reads as a series of links to press releases.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Balancing self-promotion</strong><br />Over-promotion is a big problem on Twitter. At the same time, an agency's Twitter feed should share relevant information -- not only press releases -- so the balance can be hard to find. The feed for BBDO, New York (<a href="http://twitter.com/bbdony" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@bbdony</a>), for example, displays many tweets about gadgets and mobile-marketing trends but rarely posts anything about BBDO or its clients.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Still, the big agency networks often get a big rap for being staid, but at least many of them, Ogilvy and McCann, for example, have a Twitter presence and are trying to wrap their brains around it.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">While ad types worldwide tweeted about hotshop Droga5's impressive showing at the recent Cannes International Advertising Festival, the agency itself doesn't have a feed, nor does founder David Droga. CEO Andrew Essex would say only: "Several individuals at the agency are on Twitter, which seems to work best for us at the moment."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Publicis' VivaKi is marginally better than some others in that it tries to attach a face to its Twitter feed, but the person who oversees the account (<a href="http://twitter.com/VivaKi" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@VivaKi</a>) identifies herself simply as "Stephanie" -- surely not what you'd expect from a company that earlier this year partnered with media owners to build a "Social Media Marketplace."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Tweeting CEOs</strong><br />Humanizing your brand on Twitter with a known personality can be a great strategy, provided the person is good. Examples include JWT Chairman-CEO Bob Jeffrey (<a href="http://twitter.com/bobjeffreyjwt" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@bobjeffreyjwt</a>). But a search for JWT's handle will come up empty. Ideally, agencies should have a company feed <em>and</em> a strong leader who shows he or she "gets it."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Tom Bedecarre of AKQA is a prolific tweeter, and one who's willing to put himself out there. Tweeted <a href="http://twitter.com/tombed" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@tombed</a>: "another awkward #CannesLions moment: I mixed up David Lubars and David Droga (double d'oh!)." At the same time, he uses his following to drive traffic back to his agency's feed, <a href="http://twitter.com/AKQA" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@AKQA</a>.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Digital agencies, unsurprisingly, seem to have a bit of an edge over traditional shops. Interpublic's R/GA has appointed its senior VP and managing director of copy, Chapin Clark, to manage the shop's feed (<a href="http://twitter.com/_rga" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@_rga</a>). While he does the majority of the information mining himself, he also accepts suggestions from staffers.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Another, Razorfish, "encourages our employees to be on Twitter," said David Deal, the agency's VP-marketing. "Our CEO, Bob Lord, is one of those voices, and openly tweets, as do many employees on various levels. It's part of a deliberate strategy, along with Facebook, YouTube, employee blogs and more traditional forms of brand building such as speaking events. It's important we practice what we preach."</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><strong>Drafting guidelines</strong><br />Mr. Deal said Razorfish uses Twitter to announce company news; raise awareness of thought leadership by linking to research pieces; drive traffic to the company blog; build employee morale by congratulating staffers for use of the tool; and as a recruitment tool by posting job opportunities.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">It is one of few shops (Campbell Mithun, <a href="http://twitter.com/cmithun" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@cmithun</a>, is another) whose authors sign their Twitter posts, something that it does to reflect accountability and accessibility. The agency has gone so far as to draft guidelines for social-media use for staffers to help them be more effective. "I think it actually makes them more comfortable," Mr. Deal said. "Their level of blogging and tweeting began to rise after we shared [the guidelines] with them."</p><div id="comments_137724" class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; display: block; "><div id="comments" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); height: 32px; background-position: initial initial; "><div style="float: left; font-size: medium; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 200px; ">23 Comments</div><div style="float: right; clear: right; "><a href="http://adage.com/rss-comments.php?article_id=137724" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "><img src="http://adage.com/img/rss.nav.gif?1176229863" width="14" height="14" alt="Subscribe to comments on: Learning Twitter? Don't Take Your Cues From These Agencies" title="Subscribe to comments on: Learning Twitter? Don't Take Your Cues From These Agencies" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; " /></a></div></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40793"> </a> By mgchildr | Athens, GA <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40793" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 08:02:29 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">While using a name-brand Twitter to promote a brand gives that brand a more distinct personality, it is still viewed by consumers as part of the brand's advertising (which, of course, it is). What about encouraging CONSUMERS to tweet about their favorite brands on Twitter? Personal recommendations are the most effective means of advertising, and Twitter provides an outlet for consumers to share their experiences with a brand, thus improving brand advocacy.<br /><br />If you have not seen this video, it details the process by which consumers' use of Twitter can benefit a brand: <a href="http://bit.ly/szW0U" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://bit.ly/szW0U</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40793" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40795"> </a> By Stevewax | NEW YORK, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40795" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 08:28:52 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">At my company (Campfire) we see Twitter as a gathering place for individuals to share ideas and experiences. It's probably inappropriate for a company or brand to have a Twitter account. Much better for individuals at the company, even the CEO, to speak up via an individual voice.<br /><br />I see Twitter as a lunch date or cocktail party with individuals of my choosing, some friends, some interesting strangers. So I'm more interested in what @eveon (one of our employees) or Craig Newmark (@craignewmark) or John Perry Barlow (Grateful Dead Lyricist: @johnperrybarlow) have to say than what a corporate site for General Foods or JWT might reveal.<br /><br />Take a look at a Honda saleswoman in Charleston, South Carolina is doing to influence car fans and shoppers for instance: twitter.com/brunroxy09. No Honda Twitter account needed there.<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40795" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40797"> </a> By stephenpbyrne | Australia <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40797" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 08:37:45 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">It's sure a sign that some of the agencies you named are SO far behind the social media tsunami, they aren't going to catchup anytime soon, if they are already absent Twitterers, Twitter seldom or so ineptly. It seems indicative of the state of agencyland that there is such a vast chasm between agency's so called "thought leadership" vs actual digital know how beyond media planning and ad design. In most cases, even their digital front doors are so poor they can barely answer an email or update a blog. So why do clients keep going back? And why do we take any notice of what they have to say anymore? Hurrah to those like Razorfish & AKQA that do as they say.<br />Stephen Byrne<br /><a href="http://www.diffusion.com.au/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.diffusion.com.au</a><br /><a href="http://www.diffusionblog.blogspot.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.diffusionblog.blogspot.com</a><br />twitter @spbyrne<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40797" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40799"> </a> By JOHN | WASHINGTON, DC <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40799" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 08:40:02 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">At Ogilvy, we put our effort into being out there across social media as ourselves, not behind a corporate account. That's what social media is all about - not the corporate handle (which serves a purpose yet a small one in comparison to all of us Ogilvy People being active in social media.<br /><br />We have been bloggers, twitterers, facebook group owners for more than 5 years. Not sure your assessment of agencies by their coporate IDs is that telling an analysis. Take a look at the thought leaders and people across the agencies who are very active throughout social media. I doubt you will find a group as involved and participating as Ogilvy.<br /><br />I can speak for my corner of the universe - Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence team and you will see a very active social media culture via our hub here including cross links to our brothers and sisters across the globe and across all of the disciplines:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.360digitalinfluence.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.360digitalinfluence.com</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40799" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40801"> </a> By craigcooper | craigcooper.com, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40801" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 08:57:37 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">"35 million unique global visitors"<br /><br />Of those, how many are regularly active?<br /><br />Of that percentage, how many are "real" people and not marketers, hookers and get-rich-quick schemers?<br /><br />And of those, how many have an income that is not best described as an allowance?<br /><br />That's the number that matters, please and thank you.<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40801" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40802"> </a> By ehmie | TORONTO, ON <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40802" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:00:42 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I'm the publisher of YummyMummyClub.ca - an online magazine for moms. When I joined twitter I was shocked at how most of the agency and Pr peeps I knew were clueless about this important marketing tool. Together with @unmarketing, the self proclaimed Mayor of Twitterville, we invited a large group who work in advertising/marketing for a seminar on the Do's and Don't of Twitter. Here's a short video with hightlights many may find useful:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/twitter_101." style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/twitter_101.</a><br /><br />Erica Ehm<br />twitter.com/yummymummyclub.ca<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40802" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40803"> </a> By SingularityDesign | Philadelphia, PA <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40803" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:03:17 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I think a lot of agencies tend to suffer from "shoemaker's children" syndrome. When they prepare for their clients' accounts, they gather their sharpest minds and follow a prescribed process that leads to success. In many cases, when agencies do their own promotion, they lose that self-discipline and just work on it whenever they can with whatever spare resources are around.<br /><br />Agencies need to treat their own Twittering, email newsletters and websites with the same TLC and structure that they do for their clients, if they want to get the same level of results. Sometimes its not easy without a client to establish solid expectations, but you just have to bear down and commit to doing it the right way no matter what.<br /><br />- Jeff Greenhouse<br />President, Singularity Design<br /><a href="http://www.singularitydesign.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://www.SingularityDesign.com</a><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/SingularityDsgn" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://Twitter.com/SingularityDsgn</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40803" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40804"> </a> By scottmonty | Dearborn, MI <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40804" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:05:30 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I echo what John said (doubly so, since we work with Ogilvy 360). I'm a little troubled that Ad Age's assessment didn't dig deeper to find exactly who from various companies is on Twitter. Various brands have different conventions for naming their accounts, and most companies allow employees to tweet under their own names.<br /><br />What matters are the interactions with individuals from companies, not a nameless, faceless brand or logo. Since you mention Zappos, I think it's disingenuous to simply focus on Tony (although he leads by example). There are over 400 more Zappos employees on Twitter, having interactions with customers all day. That's a much more scalable - and human - approach than a single company-specific account.<br /><br />Scott Monty<br />Global Digital Communications<br />Ford Motor Company<br /><a href="http://www.thefordstory.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.thefordstory.com</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40804" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40806"> </a> By dilaram | istanbul <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40806" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:17:48 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I do agree with Stephen, Erica, etc.<br /><br />If as an agency you are not aware, or active in these social networks, how can you use them for your brands?<br /><br />We are, Runway Interactive agency, a rather young, dynamic team here in Istanbul.<br /><br />The most interesting, innovative brief just landed on our lap.<br /><br />THY (Turkish Airlines), last week invited us to their Mobile pitch. AND this is where they did a genious job. Instead of sending us the brief itself, they sent us a document with only clues to get to the brief. We had to use several Iphone apps, as well as visit social networks, etc to get to the brief.<br /><br />Another genious idea that is in the brief, is to seed information during the preparation of the pitch (2 weeks), about THY Mobile brief, our agency, and most importantly document this for the pitch.<br /><br />They want to see that we can actually use, as well as our expertise on this medium. How smart of them.<br /><br />I believe all brands should employ this strategy from now on while they are choosing their agencies.<br /><br />You can follow our adventures on twitter @ thymobile or @thylounge, as well as on thymobile.mobi<br /><br />Dilara Z. Moran<br />Runway Interactive<br />Strategic Planning Advisor<br /><br />twitter @dilaram<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40806" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40807"> </a> By DMOSS | Buffalo Grove, IL <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40807" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:27:16 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">>> Stevewax ... At my company (Campfire) we see Twitter<br />>> as a gathering place for individuals to share ideas<br />>> and experiences. It's probably inappropriate for<br />>> a company or brand to have a Twitter account.<br /><br />Try YAMMER. Registration (and viewing) is locked down to people who have your company's @address. It has a Twitter-like interface that allows spontaneity while maintaining the security of an Intranet.<br /><br />As for Twitter, maintaining your marketing presence is a full-time job. If a company isn't willing to dedicate a person to that position, they're better off not having a Twitter presense. On Twitter, bad is globally bad. But good has terrific ROI: ask Starbucks, Wendys, Discovery, Dell, CNN, NPR, TMZ, etc.<br /><br />Which Ad Agency is going to be the first to develop a Twitter Dept and sell 24/7 marketing for small companies that can't have a dedicated Twitter-position?<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40807" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40811"> </a> By brianvandeputte | Macomb, MI <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40811" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:43:50 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">GreyNYInterns<br /><br />Our four day vacation continues! We aren't even working but we're sort of famous- @adage article about Twitter. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ol4rku26" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://tinyurl.com/ol4rku26</a> minutes ago from web<br /><br />From this tweet, the Grey NY interns come off as sort of egotistical and somewhat ignorant. Did they even read this article? It doesn't exactly sing their praises...<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40811" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40812"> </a> By Paul | New York, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40812" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 09:44:01 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I am new to Twitter - about a month. Shame on me. But when I learned how to use it, which didn't take very long, I found it both gratifying and addictive. I spent my first couple of days trying to find senior agency executives and agencies to follow and, as has been said, I was stunned to find out how few where there. Agency's are way behind the curve. And how do they expect clients to perceive of them and their services if they are not using the very same media they preach to their paying clients. But that is no different than the poor web sites that most agencies have, including the interactive shops. Agency's still don't "get it" - the first place client's go for information is the website and places like Twitter and Facebook. What a sad commentary this all too true article is.<br /><br />Paul S. Gumbinner<br />President<br />The Gumbinner Company<br />New York, NY<br /><a href="http://www.thegumbinnercompany.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.thegumbinnercompany.com</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40812" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40817"> </a> By AnneDeeterGallaher | Mechanicsburg, PA <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40817" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 10:28:13 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">Twitter is a refreshing opportunity for the smaller agencies to compete with larger houses and to attract the attention of larger businesses. Our influence on Twitter is powered by the value of our information. More importantly, it's not the vast number of followers that is a measurement of success, but who those followers are--who is listening to what we're saying.<br /><br />It doesn't take long on Twitter to understand who in the agency kingdom and who in the business/corporate world "gets it." And thanks to the transparency of the public timeline, a business can easily discern the quality and influence of an agency's Twitter insight. If it's a litany of media releases and self-promotion, the followers and influence dry up. If it's an anticipated flow of marketing wisdom and business expertise, the followers listen and the influence expands.<br /><br />At the Deeter Gallaher Group LLC, we tweet from our personal profiles (@AnneDGallaher, @MarisaCorser, @JoshMGallaher), and our clients and colleagues appreciate our transparency. We are able to convince our clients/CEOs to engage in social media, because they can see our own efforts. We listen, learn, and share. Social media engagement has produced impressive results for us and our clients and provides an additional messaging platform for traditional communications pieces.<br /><br />During a Social Media panel for tourism in central Pennsylvania, I told the business audience that before they partner with any agency for social media strategies, ask the agency for their profile names. For Tweeting CEOs and brand humanizers, I have learned volumes from Peter Aceto at @CEO_INGDIRECT Canada and Ford's @ScottMonty. We look forward to more listening, learning, and leading.<br /><br />Anne Deeter Gallaher,CEO/Owner<br />Deeter Gallaher Group LLC<br /><a href="http://www.deetergallahergroup.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.deetergallahergroup.com</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40817" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40818"> </a> By giles | london <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40818" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 10:35:28 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">@ogilvy has over 14,000 followers, around 10,000 more than most of the other users you mention in the article.<br /><br />The majority of the content is aggregated from the Ogilvy employee blogs that John mentions above and focuses on the impact that technology is having on the relationships between brands and their audiences.<br /><br />These posts come from all countries, companies, disciplines and levels and are unfiltered. Consequently the views don't necessarily reflect those of the corporation but the people within it. A fine but very important line.<br /><br />We endeavour to follow everyone back (we are at about 11,000, it is holiday season after all). We also try to respond the all DMs and @ogilvy comments.<br /><br />I believe this authenticity and open attitude is one of the drivers of it's relatively large and loyal following (there has been about a 5% drop off over the life of @ogilvy). The majority of feedback is positive and very often enlightening and thought provoking.<br /><br />We find experimenting in the space for ourselves, rather than talking about it, provides valuable feedback and insight that we can bring to bear to help build our clients businesses.<br /><br />Giles Rhys Jones<br /><a href="http://interactivemarketingtrends.blogspot.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://interactivemarketingtrends.blogspot.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ogilvy" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">http://www.twitter.com/ogilvy</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40818" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40822"> </a> By John | Alpharetta, GA <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40822" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 11:03:05 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">Parekh writes "perhaps it's better to not be there at all than to be there poorly."<br /><br />You really can't do poorly if you know who you want to speak with, have something of value to discuss with them, and say it in a way they can appreciate The problem always comes when companies and their agencies lose site of why they are communicating and what results they want the messages to deliver.<br /><br />Also, it is nearly imnpossible for agency professionals who don't have anything to say to not say anything.<br /><br />John Ribbler<br /><a href="http://www.media-proinc.com/" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.media-proinc.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.media-proinc.com/ribblog" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">www.media-proinc.com/ribblog</a><div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40822" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40827"> </a> By smackerony | Rotterdam, ZH <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40827" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 11:18:49 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">what about @mediaedgecia or @mecglobal and @mecinteraction -> wpp's main media agency / outlet<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40827" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40831"> </a> By hartmanjon | Minneapolis, MN <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40831" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 11:35:28 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">The premise of this article felt a little old school to me.<br /><br />Social media isn't just another media platform. It's, well, social. It's about interaction.<br /><br />People interact with people. Like several people have commented above, agencies (or especially holding companies!) with twitter accounts are are kinda weird - like my dad trying to befriend me on Facebook. They're clearly not in on it for altruistic reasons. No one would argue that agencies need to monitor and engage with what's being said about them in the social media world, but to periodically engage in some forced broadcasting of their ideals or offerings? Awkward!<br /><br />The beautiful thing about twitter is that is transparent, quirky, and personal. God bless the Grey interns for thinking about tequila at 9:30am. You know what? I'm kinda relieved that they are. They're people... I'm guessing 22 or 23 year-olds who aren't getting paid much and are supposed to be creative. Tweeting about tequila makes them real.<br /><br />Consumer brands (i.e., DMOSS' Starbucks, Dell examples) act as entities. Their brands need to be carefully molded, and so singular communication from them makes sense.<br /><br />But clients don't hire an agency anymore, they hire the people... the real, live, quirky, breathing, individual people with ideas and opinions, and kids, and jokes. Those are the people I want to hear from on twitter.<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40831" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40832"> </a> By jessebrightman | NEW YORK, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40832" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 11:53:35 am</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">As a Grey Healthcare Group INTERN, not to be confused with Grey's summer interns, I feel like the @greynyintern twitter account puts interns in a bad light. I use to tell people I am interning at Grey, but since this article, I will be sure to make the distinction.<br /><br />For me, the most dissappointing part is the fact that I have worked my butt off to get this internship opportunity and have been complimented on my ideas and work ethic (I am an account person). These creative interns at the other Grey building are setting Grey Healthcare Group and other agency interns back. I hope this AdAge article does not let this be the face of agency interns. Arrogance and ignorance should be the last thing any intern should have, because we are lucky to have the opportunity to prove ourselves while gaining insight into an industry that many of us feel so passionate about.<br /><br />I BEG YOU ALL, PLEASE DO NOT LET A FEW INTERNS ON TWITTER LEAVE A SOUR TASTE IN YOUR MOUTH.<br /><br />Jesse Brightman<br /><a href="mailto:Jesse@Brightman.com" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Jesse@Brightman.com</a><br />Twitter: @jessebrightman<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40832" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40834"> </a> By jdysart | CHICAGO, IL <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40834" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 12:07:07 pm</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">Interesting story, Rupal, with a diverse assortment of perspectives on the use of Twitter—from novices to more seasoned users. Between articles such as yours (and the comments that follow) as well as the examples of others, I think this is where the real learning takes place, giving everyone an opportunity to learn from others and improve on their use of the tool. So there are definitely some good takeaways here.<br /><br />As manager of Draftfcb's Twitter feed (@draftfcb) I definitely feel our biggest challenge right now centers on responding to direct messages and replies. Not because of a concern with regards to messaging, but timing as I juggle all of the day's other tasks. I've actually found that a great resource has been other agency employees. If someone asks about a job, I can direct them to people here like @creativeadgigs or @AConnJob who are using their feeds to find talent. The same is true for people who are looking to learn about the agency's other disciplines or work. I think it's equally important to know what others in the agency are doing with their feeds and utilizing them as a resource if you can.<br /><br />Josh Dysart<br />Manager, Corporate Communications<br />Draftfcb<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40834" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40836"> </a> By craigcooper | craigcooper.com, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40836" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 12:30:34 pm</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">Advertising Age (or have you already renamed yourself Twittering Age?), you have already described Twitter as "social-networking tool du jour."<br /><br />Perhaps these agencies feel the same way.<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40836" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40839"> </a> By craigcooper | craigcooper.com, NY <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40839" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 12:34:49 pm</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">Advertising Age (or have you already renamed yourself Twittering Age?), you have already described Twitter as "social-networking tool du jour."<br /><br />Perhaps these agencies feel the same way.<div align="right"><strong class="more" style="display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; "><a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40839" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 13px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/icon-more-arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; ">Permalink</a></strong></div></div></div><div class="row_comments_spacer" style="width: 420px; height: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/eee-border.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; "></div><div class="row_comments" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: left; "><div class="commentor" style="clear: left; "><a name="comments-40841"> </a> By nmckinney | AUSTIN, TX <a href="http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=137724#comments-40841" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">July 6, 2009 12:42:15 pm</a>:</div><div class="quote" style="background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/quote.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; background-position: 0% 0%; ">I help monitor our Twitter for GSD&M Idea City. I find our biggest challenge has been finding a voice that works for us and for our followers. Recently a twitter follower put @IdeaCity under a microscope saying that there was no "conversation" and nothing "personal" about our tweets. And, to be honest - that was something we struggled with when we first started posting.<br /><br />Ultimately, we had to do what was right for us. We figured our followers were people who were either potential hires, potential clients, vendors, those interested in advertising or fans of Austin, TX (where we are headquartered). As such, we try to use this as the guiding light for our tweets: Is it about us, advertising, our people, clients or Austin? If it isn't, we don't put it out there.<br /><br />Our advice? Do what fits your brand, and don't let people say you are doing it wrong. If you are there, reading tweets and trying to get a sense of the space, you are at least doing something right.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-38937695526518612612009-07-04T10:01:00.000-07:002009-07-04T10:03:07.485-07:00The Year The Newspaper Died. What's next? Blogs?<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=dinosaurs;"></div>from <a class="entry-source-title" target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Ftypepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider?hl=en" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); text-decoration: none; ">Silicon Alley Insider</a> by <span class="entry-author-name">Preethi Dumpala</span><div class="entry-annotations" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></div><div class="entry-body" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; max-width: 650px; padding-top: 0.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div class="item-body" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><p>As you may have noticed, newspapers have had a rough 2009. But you may not quite appreciate the magnitude of the collapse.</p><p>So far this year:</p><ul><li>105 newspapers have been shuttered.<br /></li><li>10,000 newspaper jobs have been lost.</li><li>Print ad sales <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-newspaper-print-ad-sales-2009-6" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); ">fell 30%</a> in Q1 '09.<br /></li><li>23 of the top 25 newspapers <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/23-of-top-25-newspapers-post-circulation-declines-2009-4" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 68, 187); ">reported circulation declines</a> between 7% and 20%.</li></ul></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-896412720605006013.post-38981074244310605962009-07-01T21:41:00.000-07:002009-07-01T21:43:07.491-07:00BET Awards Ratings Soar Thanks to Michael Jackson, Twitter<div class="phew" title="out=gif89;r=2;src=live;query=BET Awards;"></div><h2>Net Used Social-Media Tool to Announce New Acts, Encourage Fan Feedback</h2><p class="byline" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11px; ">by <a href="mailto:ahampp@adage.com" title="E-mail editor: Andrew Hampp" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Andrew Hampp</a><br /><em>Published:</em> <a href="http://adage.com/results?endeca=1&return=endeca&search_offset=0&search_order_by=score&search_phrase=06/30/2009" title="Browse all stories published on 06/30/2009" style="text-decoration: none;color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">June 30, 2009</a></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Broadcast networks may have gotten a boost from <a href="http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=137650" title="Despite Passing of TV Legends, Networks Fail to Win Viewers Over Weekend" class="body" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">Michael Jackson tributes</a> over the weekend, but the biggest beneficiary was Sunday night's BET Awards. The Viacom cable network's annual ceremony was the year's highest-rated cable telecast, with 10.65 million viewers watching live-plus-same day, thanks to its last-minute tribute to the late singer and more than a little help from a partnership with Twitter.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div class="rightrail_left" style="clear: left; float: left; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="story-image" style="position: relative; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: url(http://adage.com/img/shdw-big.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 100%; "><img src="http://adage.com/images/bin/image/rightrail/betawards063009.jpg?1246396617" width="255" height="191" alt="Jamie Foxx honors Michael Jackson on Sunday night's BET Awards." title="Jamie Foxx honors Michael Jackson on Sunday night's BET Awards." class="rightrail" style="position: relative; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: -5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -5px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-position: initial initial; " /></div><div class="captionrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); width: 272px; ">Jamie Foxx honors Michael Jackson on Sunday night's BET Awards.<div class="creditrightrail" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.5em; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Photo Credit: BET</div></div></div><br />On Thursday afternoon, just hours before Mr. Jackson would be pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center, Scott Mills, chief operating officer, was touting the network's rapidly growing presence on Twitter, which had doubled to more than 20,000 by June 25 from just more than 10,000 followers on June 22. The <a href="http://twitter.com/BetAwards" title="Bet Awards Twitter" class="body" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); ">@betawards</a> Twitter account was used to announce new artists just moments after they had been booked to perform at the show. Viewer feedback and comments were collected for a "Wall of Tweets" that appeared on the network's website and will also appear on-air during the show's repeat airings on June 30, July 2 and July 6.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>Mr. Mills said last Thursday of Twitter, "Unlike mobile or online voting, it's the immediacy that gives it extraordinary resonance. So many of the artists and celebrities that are part of the show are either participating or attendees and have giant followings online, so this is exactly the kind of thing their followers would like to be aware of. We want to leverage that opportunity to make the people who aren't in the venue but watching the show at home feel a part, too, by encouraging those constituencies to tweet while they're enjoying the show."<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>By Sunday night, the followers numbered 40,000-plus, with BET Awards-related terms accounting for all 10 Twitter trending topics at one point during the show's three-and-a-half-hour telecast. Traffic to BET.com also saw a 100% increase over last year's BET Awards coverage, and broke the site's records for best two-day total for unique users for the June 28 and June 29.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>Although the Twitter partnership wasn't a revenue-sharing effort, Chloe Sladden, Twitter's director-media partnerships, said, "We're in an experimental phase -- we're focused on learning and developing creative audience-building approached with our broadcast collaborators."<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><strong>The Jackson effect</strong><br />Although the BET Awards regularly ranks as the network's highest-rated telecast each year, BET Networks CEO Debra Lee readily acknowledged the role Mr. Jackson's tribute played in helping this year's show go above and beyond all previous ceremonies.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>"The number of viewers who tuned in to see the BET Awards '09 is a testament to Michael Jackson's far-reaching and long-lasting influence and legacy," Ms. Lee said in a statement. "We're thankful to everyone who played a role in the show, both onstage and behind the camera, and it meant so much to all of us to be there for our audience at this emotional time."<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>The show's sponsors also got a big boost from the larger-than-anticipated audience. Kmart sponsored its first award, the "Best Collegiate Athlete Award" on behalf of the Protégé Apparel athletic line sold exclusively at its stores, during the "106 & Park" pre-show, which attracted a network-best 3.1 million total viewers. Ford also used the pre-show to promote its 2010 Ford Fusion and the Lincoln MKS, the full-size luxury vehicles that served as hosts throughout the red-carpet coverage. Procter & Gamble sponsored the "My Black Is Beautiful Post-Show," which garnered a record-setting 5.2 million viewers, plugging its Queen Collection brand, endorsed by Queen Latifah.<p style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p>Louis Carr, BETN's president of broadcast media sales, called the BET Awards the "black Super Bowl." "When you look at the numbers this show garners, the type of demand for tickets, the stars we have and the red carpet of any sort of tent-pole award show on television, it clearly comes off as the biggest family event for our audience," he said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com